Choices
by HeartOfEmerald
Summary: The choices we make affect every event that happens in the course of our lifetimes. We choose the right or the wrong and live with the following consequences. But sometimes there is no right and wrong. Sometimes its between what we know, and what we feel.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: _**Hey there! so, this is my first attempt at a full length fic. I'm going to try and make it pretty long with lots of story turns, simply because I have an idea of what I want and theres just so many directions I think it could go. I am not promising that it will be good, but I am going to my damn hardest to try. It will be an ItaSaku fic. Do not be misled by what the first several chapters will hint at. I really think I might be able to do a good job with this so reviews (criticism especially) will be greatly appreciated. I realize this first chapter is extremely short but they will get longer. This is just get the ball rolling. As for those keeping up with the manga, I realize I may "adjust" some things in the future, but seeing as this is a fic and I am it's author, i have that power to do with it as i please. So give me a chance and I will do my best to make this fic land itself on your favorites list.  
Let the games begin.

* * *

"Sakura-chan!"

_Oh god… please not this morning. Please… _

Sakura begged every force in the universe that she was _not _hearing a very loud blonde outside her apartment.

"Sakura!"

No such luck.

She groaned and kicked aside her covers irritably. He was going to pay for this. She had spent all last night at the hospital working the graveyard shift and hadn't dragged her ass under the blankets until five in the morning. Not bothering to change from her black tank top and shorts, she stomped barefoot down the hall and flung open the door.

"Naruto…" she said menacingly. "This better be good." The blonde's face suddenly twisted into a nervous smile.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, did I wake you up?" A crack from the pinkette's knuckles told him that, yes, he had most certainly woken her up. "Heh, sorry. But I-"

"Naruto if anything you are about to say to me has the words 'ramen', I am going to pummel you so far into the ground you won't even be able to produce shadow clones to dig you out!"

"Well it's a good thing I'm not here for that!" He grinned, intertwining his hands behind his head in his trademark pose.

"Then what. Do. You. Want?"

"Granny Tsunade wants us in her office in an hour. Kakashi-sensei told me to come get you." Sakura groaned. Knowing her former sensei, by the time he told Naruto to come get her, they were probably already supposed to be there.

"Well, there goes my day off. Give me a sec." She left the door open when she went back inside, knowing her blonde friend would follow and shut the door behind him. Once in her room she made quick work of changing. She had forgone her old red outfit long ago. Opting for a much more professional- and not to mention less conspicuous- black ninja pants, a fishnet top under her jounin vest, and tough but lightweight black boots. Her medics belt forever at her waist and an assortment of weapons strapped to her thighs and hidden in her boots.

She glanced in the mirror on her way out.

_My, my Sakura-chan. Look how you've grown, _she mocked herself. Her hair was longer, almost as long as it had been before she hacked it off with a kunai, and she quickly tied it back in a loose ponytail.

She found Naruto, of course, in her kitchen.

"Baka! Get out of my fridge!" She exclaimed, swatting the blonde over the head.

"But Sakura-chan! You said no ramen!" He whined, cringing away from his best friend's fist.

"Whatever. Come on let's go. We're probably late."

* * *

"I have a mission for you three," Tsunade said in her 'Hokage' voice. All business, no humor. "There has been suspicious activity near the border of Rain and Fire. Now, it's doesn't necessarily mean it's Akatsuki, but with the way things have been going lately, we can't exactly take much of a chance."

Sakura glanced from Naruto on her right, to Sai on her left.

"Us three? What about Kakashi?" Naruto asked. Tsunade folded her hands under her chin.

"Kakashi has some business to take care of." Her tone provided no room for argument. "You three are capable enough. But if you think you need a babysitter I suppose…"

"Noooo!" Naruto whined. "We can do this! No problem! Right Sakura-chan?"

"Hai! No problem," she agreed. Sai nodded as well.

"Splendid. Alright. All you are to do is scope things out for now. There shouldn't be any dangerous run-ins, but if there is you can all manage yourself."

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura began. "What exactly are we looking out for?"

"Probably just a team of rogue-nin. They've been abducting shinobi. High ranking shinobi at that, which is why we assume whoever is behind this is pretty high ranking themselves. Figure out what you can and send reports through Sai's drawings. You leave tomorrow morning."

The ninja nodded and disappeared in puffs of smoke.

* * *

That night, Sakura could not sleep. The mission they were assigned to had seemed easy enough, but she couldn't shake the nagging feeling of paranoia when she left the Hokage Tower.

She heard her apartment door slowly open, kicking her shinobi skills into gear. She bolted up right, her hand under her pillow gripped around a kunai.

"Sakura?" she heard someone mumble outside her bedroom door. Immediately she dropped her defensive stance.

"Come in Naruto." The door opened and Naruto stepped in, wearing a T-shirt and grey pajama bottoms, his hair looking rather bedruffled.

She didn't say a word as he climbed under the covers next to her, sliding in behind her, his arm wrapping around her small waist and pulling her back into his chest. His warmth surrounded her and she relaxed.

"Can't sleep?" she asked him. She felt him shake his head, shifting her pillow. "Me either."

"I had a nightmare." Sakura allowed a soft smile to take place on her face. She was reminded of a young and scared Naruto, seemingly so different from this man that now held on to her.

She wiggled free from his grasp and rolled onto her back, maneuvering Naruto so he lay with his head resting on her chest. Not in a romantic or intimate way, but in a comforting way. She began to soothingly run her fingers through his soft golden hair.

"What about?"

"You?" Her hand halted its movements for a moment, and then continued. She waited, knowing he would tell her. "Sakura, I don't feel right about this mission tomorrow."

"What happened in the dream?"

"I saw you. You were… Sakura, you were…" He took a deep break and released it. "I had a dream that you were dead." Sakura forced her hands to continue to move through his hair, determined to make his fears disappear, not strengthen them. "It felt real. I could feel you lying in my arms. Like a doll. You could have been sleeping, but I knew you weren't."

"Don't worry Naruto. It was just a dream."

"But what if it wasn't? What if something goes wrong on this mission? I know Tsunade said it would be simple, but I don't know. Things are never that easy. Especially for us." She couldn't disagree with that. It was completely true. Nothing had ever been easy for them.

"I'm a big girl Naruto," she said, poking him playfully in the side of the head. "I can take care of myself. Not that I'll need to. You never let me have any fun," she joked, trying to lift him out of his mood. He chuckled half-heartedly. She didn't like this side of Naruto. It was the side that only she saw. The side that was defeated, and sometimes so close to giving up.

"Sakura, I only hold you back to protect you. I can't lose you. Ever." She nodded, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing the side of her face into his hair.

"It's ok Naruto. I promise," she yawned, feeling her eyes drift close and Naruto's steady breathing. "It will all be ok."

* * *

"Tsunade-sama,"

"What do you need Kakashi?" The blonde Hokage looked up from the mission reports she was currently reading- more like absently flipping- through.

"Are you sure it was best to send Sakura and Naruto out on this mission?" Kakashi leaned against her desk, his hands shoved in his pockets and his book tucked under his arm.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, for starters, _he _has been rumored to be in that area." Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"So? Naruto and Sakura have long since given up on him. Why should there be anything to worry about?"

"That's not the part I'm worried about." Tsunade knew exactly what Kakashi was worried about, and also knew it was only a matter of time before he brought it up. "All the shinobi who have been kidnapped have had some type of training in the medical field. Is it wise to send Sakura into the middle of that?"

"Sakura can handle herself. Hell, she gives Naruto a run for his money. And if my thoughts are correct, even you struggle against her in training sometimes. Going soft old man?"

"Now is not the time for jokes. You know he's looking for a medic." Tsunade sighed.

"Ah, you're right. But I also know that Naruto and Sai would die before anyone got their hands on Sakura."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

* * *

**_A/N: _**I really hope you press the alert button on this and see what I can do. I hope to put out a chapter a week, but how many authors have said that and gotten busy? I'm gonna try though! Oh, and for anyone who is curious as to what Sakura's outfit looks like, I am posting a link on my profile of the picture I found that I am basing her getup on, except she has longer hair in my fic though.

- HeartOfEmerald


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: _**well, here's chapter two. Not very eventful but I just wanted to set up the situation of Hawk and also let Sai have a little spotlight on him. Hope it turned out ok. =)

* * *

"We're getting closer. Keep moving." An onyx haired shinobi ordered his team as they jumped through the trees.

"Sasuke-sama. Perhaps we should take a break. Karin-"

"Is none of my concern at the moment, Jugo," Sasuke cut off the larger boy. His sharp ears caught the sound of a sniffle and he halted on a branch, Suigetsu and Jugo stopping as well. He turned around, his eyes landing hatefully on the red-head in Jugo's arms. He moved towards her, glaring down at her. "Jugo, drop her."

"But-"

"Now."

Not daring to disobey, Jugo set Karin down on the branch and jumped away to stand near Suigetsu, who watched on helplessly.

Sasuke kneeled down in front of Karin, her face contorted in pain and red eyes trained on his. Her posture was that of a child cringing away from an adult that had struck them.

"Karin," he spoke, his monotone voice level but threatening. "Move your legs." A sob escaped Karin's throat, and she shook her head. "You can't, can you?" Another shake of her head. "It's because you're stupid. It's because you don't know how to stand your own in combat and because you're always trying to latch on to me." More sobs ensued from the red-head and Sasuke's face remained a stoic mask.

A few days ago they had been in combat with a Rain-nin. Sasuke had known this particular ninja had training in medical ninjutsu from the files he had filched from the sound base after he took care of Orochimaru. In the middle of the battle, the curse mark shot pain through his body so severe he had fallen to his knees just as the Rain-nin was aiming an open chakra-infused palm towards him. Karin, in her obsession, had jumped to his rescue, displaying the scarred skin of her arm for him to heal himself through. This resulted her receiving the full blow from the ninja into her spine.

Suigetsu had managed to take down the Rain-nin, but Karin was now incapable of walking or moving her left arm. As far as Sasuke was concerned, she was of no use to him other than her tracking abilities and convenient healing technique. But he needed a strong medic to heal him after he battled his brother. Which is exactly why he was searching for one. He was a fair tracker himself and could get along without her, but he needed a medic for when he faced his brother.

"Now listen up Karin. As far as I am concerned, you are no longer a member of this team. I'm having Jugo tow you around in case someone gets hurt. But once I find a new medic, I am going to kill you."

Karin shut her eyes and continued to sob. Jugo looked down at his feet. Suigetsu was turned away, not willing to let Sasuke see the look of turmoil on his face.

"Keep moving. We don't stop until night fall." Sasuke ordered, standing back up and taking off through the trees, knowing they would follow.

They had to.

Where else could they go?

* * *

A few days journey away, an obnoxious blonde and a pale artist were in the middle of, yet another, pointless argument.

"Dickless."

"Don't call me that! I am not! I will show you right here right now!"

"Naruto you whip that thing out and I'll rip it off!" Sakura shouted, raising her fist.

"Calm down Sakura-chan. I won't." He grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She sighed and rolled her eyes, pulling her map out and examining it. "How we doing on progress?" Naruto asked her.

"We're about two days journey from where Tsunade told us to go. But if we move fast we can make it by nightfall tomorrow."

"Sweet! This mission will be easy!" Sakura smiled, internally thinking about the very scared and unsure Naruto that she had comforted last night.

"Let's hope so."

Sai was watching the affectionate actions that passed so easily between his two teammates. Sakura, who had often tutored him in human behavior much more effectively than his books, had explained to him once that what was between her and Naruto was not anything romantic. He recalled that particular conversation now.

_"Well what would you call it?" he wondered. Sakura pressed a fingertip to her chin. _

_ "Friendship I suppose."_

_ "Friendship. But you have friendship with many others and it does not seem the same as it is with Naruto."_

_ "I guess that's true," she sighed. "What me and Naruto have is, more of a dependency."_

_ "Dependency? I read once that such a thing was unhealthy." This was true. He read once about something called 'Co-dependency'._

_ "Maybe. But I need Naruto, and Naruto needs me. It's the only way we have survived and it's the only way we will keep surviving."_

_ "Ah." Sai was thoughtful. His pink-haired teammate was now staring out the window of his apartment. "Sakura?" he said softly._

_ "Hm?" she responded, not looking away from the window._

_ "I am dependent on you and Naruto." Sakura turned to look at him and for a few moments they were silent. Then she smiled her brilliant smile._

_ "Come on Sai! Let's meet Naruto for some ramen." _

_ He returned her smile with his own, and they left the apartment, her arm looped through is._

He smiled fondly at the memory as he watched his teammates, and walked over to stand on the other side of Sakura.

"I wonder if we will run into Sasuke," Sai said, not realizing what he was saying until both Naruto and Sakura were staring at him wide-eyed.

"Why do you say that Sai?" Sakura asked him, her voice steady.

"Well we've already heard that he's defeated Orochimaru, and is most likely in pursuit of his brother. And isn't the Akatsuki base rumored to be in Rain Country?"

Sakura exchanged a glance with Naruto. He made a point.

"No," Naruto eventually said, shaking his head. "Even if he was searching for his brother, he might not even know where to start looking for him. Plus Sound is a far journey away from Rain. We'll be gone by the time he even makes it close to Rain."

Sakura nodded, although she didn't completely agree with what Naruto said. There were so many things that could go wrong with Naruto's statement that would put Sasuke right in the middle of their path, but she chose to ignore them. They had their assigned mission, and that was that.

"Well, I suppose that's lucky then." Sai smiled, and continued to walk on ahead of them.

"Naruto, what if he's right?" Sakura asked her best friend.

"Don't think about it Sakura. Just don't."

* * *

"Jugo, what we do? We can't let him kill her."

Suigetsu and Jugo sat around the fire. They had stopped for the night and Sasuke had gone off somewhere, leaving it safe for them to speak. Karin was cradled in Suigetsu's lap sleeping.

"There's nothing we can do," Jugo answered him, gazing at Karin sympathetically. "You know Sasuke-sama. The only reason he saved us was because we offered some kind of advantage to him. Karin is no longer an advantage."

"He's going to kill her Jugo!"

"I know that!" Jugo's voice suddenly turned angry. He paused and took a deep breath. "If we cross him, he'll kill us both. And maybe, he won't be able to find another medic up to his standards and have to keep her around."

"Always hoping for the best aren't you Jugo?" Jugo half-smiled and watched Karin sleep. "Unfortunately, you're right. I do know Sasuke-sama. And when he wants something…" Suigetsu glanced off into the dark woods in the direction Sasuke had disappeared. "He gets it."

* * *

**_A/N: _**End of chapter two! Another short one I know. I'll get them longer sometime soon though, don't worry. I feel like this chapter was a little boring. But it's the beginning of the story so it won't stay that way for long. Just trying to set up the plot. Tell me what you think? I have the flu so I have a lot of time on my hands for FF. =)

Oh! and if you would like to see some of my other writing, check out my One-Shot collection "We All Fall Down". =)

-HeartOfEmerald


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: _**Ok. Chapter 3 of my first multi-chapter fic! and for those who don't know where i am time-wise. Im warping that a little. It would be in the time after Jiraiya was killed by Pein (and yes that will be a factor in the story when Itachi comes in later) and before sasuke and itachi have their showdown. But rather than making Naruto and all the ninjas his age 15, im making them all 18. Just because I can and I would rather work with them when they're older. Ok, that being said, let the reading commence! (Oh, and point out if you see any mistakes in spelling or grammar. I went through myself but sometimes the writer misses their own mistakes.)

* * *

By nightfall the next day, Sakura, Naruto and Sai made it to the location assigned by Tsunade. A run down little village with a small population. The three walked down the small main road, which was little more than a wide dirt path surrounded by little shops.

"Whoever's in charge here is supposed to meet us at a little inn along this road. Come on," Sakura said, taking hold of her teammates' wrists and dragging them along behind them. They were exhausted and hungry and the sooner they made it to a room with a bed the better.

The inn was a tiny wooden building squished between a bar and a vacated building with boarded up windows, but it appeared to be in decent condition. Inside it was dark with only a few oil lamps lit around the room. An old man with a bald head and squinted eyes looked up from the counter.

"Welcome!" he greeted them, smiling. He was missing a few teeth. "You are the shinobi we are expecting?"

"Yes sir." Sakura said, bowing her head respectfully. It was a silent rule that when dealing with strangers, Sakura was the one who spoke to them. With Naruto's loud and blunt personality and Sai's less than thorough knowledge of human interaction, it was just safer. "Do you by any chance know an Ichiro Miura? We are supposed to meet with him here." The man nodded.

"Yes, yes of course! He's right through there in the bar. You are early. Mr. Miura was not expecting you until tomorrow morning."

"Just shows how dependable we are! Dattebayo!" Naruto gave a thumbs up and huge grin.

Sakura promptly smacked him on the back of the head.

"Arigatou," Sakura said to the man, and led her team through the door connecting to the next-door bar.

Remembering the descriptions from Tsunade, they found Mr. Miura sitting in a corner booth sipping at a cup of sake. He was a skinny, hunched over man that looked far older than he really was. His brown hair was cut below his ears and it looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days. The team approached the booth and stood before him.

"Ichiro Miura?" Sai spoke. The man looked up, his eyes landing on their headbands.

"That's me. Please, have a seat." Miura gestured to the open booth across from him. They nodded and took a seat. "You're early."

"Yes, we made our way here as quickly as we could. We received your report about-"

"Please, please." Miura waved his hand to stop Sakura from speaking. "It is late and you three must be tired. We can discuss this in the morning. I took the liberty of paying for your room."

"Thanks Mr. Miura!" Naruto beamed, shoving Sai out of the booth. "I call bed!" Soon, he and Sai were gone, leaving Sakura with Miura.

The man looked thoroughly exhausted. His shoulders were hunched over in a posture that screamed "I have no hope left in me". Sakura wondered what made the man like this.

"Thank you Mr. Miura. We really appreciate it," she said in a soft voice. He looked up, his grey eyes resting on her face.

"Don't mention it," he said, looking back down into his sake.

"Mr. Miura?" He grunted to show he was listening. "I know you said this could wait until tomorrow, but I can't help but wonder… the shinobi that was kidnapped… did you know them?" He looked up at her again.

"He was my brother," he said simply. "I loved him very much. He had just come to visit me. That's all."

"Oh." Sakura looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. "I am very sorry. And are you sure he's-"

"Yes. I am sure he's dead."

"But perhaps-"

"No," he interrupted her again. "There is no chance he is alive. I saw him die with my own eyes." Sakura resisted the urge to reach her hand out to this young man. It was no wonder he looked so much older than his years. Those who witnessed death always appeared aged. She as a shinobi knew this well.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," he was speaking again, staring off somewhere far away. All Sakura could do was listen. "We had just been strolling about around the edge of town, and suddenly, Jinichiro pushed me into the bushes and started making hand seals. A blue circle formed around me and then disappeared. Everything suddenly went silent. I couldn't even hear my own voice or heartbeat."

Sakura knew what the man was a talking about. A noise barrier. Shinobi didn't really use this since they were more likely to meet a pursuer in battle rather than hide. But when chakra depletion or injury make that impossible, it came in handy when waiting for an enemy to pass.

"There were four of them. They just appeared out of nowhere. One of them didn't even look human! But he was the least of problem. It was the other one. The leader. Those dreadful eyes…"

A flash of red and black appeared in Sakura's mind and suddenly she was listening much more intently to Miura's reverie.

"He was like a demon, and so fast! Snakes were appearing from his sleeves and he summoned lighting into his hands. I'd never seen something so awful."

Sakura's breathing was shallow, and her hands were gripping the edge of the table, threating to crush it into sawdust.

"Then he just, collapsed. My brother's hand started glowing a green color. I recognized it immediately. He had once aspired to be a medic-nin, but didn't have the chakra control for it. He went to strike the demonic man while he was vulnerable, but one of the others, a frightening red haired girl jumped in front of her fallen comrade, taking the blow. Her scream was unlike anything I had ever heard."

Sakura was now completely sure of who the man was speaking about. She had been briefed on the team members of this specific group, and now Sakura could hardly breath at all.

"The inhuman looking one, he looked like some type of sea-creature, he looked so angry. He cried out and struck my brother down from behind with this giant sword. Split him right in half. I had never seen so much blood up close before…" Sakura reached out, taking hold of Miura's hand. Although she couldn't comfort as much as she would have liked. Her heart was hammering away in her chest and the room was spinning.

"When I finally came out of my shock, they were gone. The demonic looking one had breathed fire and burned my brother's body. There was nothing left to take back with me. I ran as fast as I could."

Sakura reached inside of herself, searching desperately for her voice.

"We'll find who did this Mr. Miura. Don't worry." Her voice sounded choked, even to her ears. But it seemed to be enough. Miura patted her hand gratefully.

"Get some sleep miss…"

"Haruno. Sakura Haruno."

"Haruno-san. Please forgive me for my little episode. It has just been very difficult." Sakura shook her head.

"I understand." She had to get out of there. She politely said goodnight and hurried after her teammates.

Inside the room, it appeared Naruto had won and claimed the bed. He was sprawled out comfortably with his arms behind his head.

"Oi! Sakura-chan! Sleep in the bed with me!" he said to her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her down on the bed next to him. She heard water running and figured Sai must be showering.

Sakura couldn't believe the story she had just heard. Miura's brother was a medic-nin, or at least had medical training, and had been kidnapped by _him. _And then murdered? What mission had she been sent into?

Naruto watched the expression on his pink-haired teammate's face. He knew something was wrong. He could see it in her jade eyes as if Inner Sakura was holding up a sign for him to see.

"Sakura-chan?" His voice suddenly serious. "Sakura?"

She pulled out of her thoughts. Seeing that Naruto was looking at her with a worried expression, she suddenly smiled. That wonderful smile of hers that seemed so genuine.

Naruto knew better.

"Nothing! Now get off me baka! Let's get some sleep." She shoved him playfully as Sai emerged from the bathroom. Naruto, having already showered the grime of travel off, chuckled and leaned back on the pillows. Something was up.

Sakura escaped to the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting the water run before she collapsed on the bathroom floor, hand flying to her racing heart. She hadn't told Naruto. How could she? He would flip out!

_He _was here. Of all places! And he was possibly the one responsible for kidnapping all the shinobi. Did Tsunade know about this? Why hadn't she told them?

Sakura managed to calm herself, standing up and shedding her clothes before she stepped into the shower. The hot water felt amazing on her sore muscles. She rested her head against the tiled wall.

What was going to happen? Would they face him on this mission? Naruto had been right. Nothing was ever simple for them.

Sakura wrapped her arms around her body, leaning fully against the wall.

"Sasuke."

* * *

_He saw flashes of blue and red. Everything was on fire it felt like, but he could see no flames. Just rippling blackness that seemed to be moving around him with every flash of light._

_ A horrifying screamed ripped through the air and everything seemed much sharper all of a sudden. He was kneeling down in a forest and he was holding something in his arms. He looked down and was met with beautiful jade eyes and pink hair. _

_ "Naruto…" she whispered, her eyes drifting closed. A small bit of blood dripping out of the corner of her mouth. Her body went limp and her heartbeat stopped._

_ Sakura! His Sakura! He was holding his most dear person in his arms right now, and she wasn't even really there. His throat was constricting and he was surrounded by shadows. He felt the tears burning in his eyes as he cried out._

_ "SAKURAAA!"_

"Gah!" Naruto bolted up in bed, chest heaving as he looked around frantically and tried to remember where he was.

Oh yeah. He was in a hotel room in some village by Rain border. Sai was asleep on the floor. Where was Sakura?

He looked on the bed next to him. There she was. He released a breath while watching her sleep, her mouth slightly open. He bent his down near her head. He heard the steady inhale and exhale of breath and nodded to himself, then settled in close, pulling her close to him. In her sleep she immediately snuggled in close to the new source of warmth.

_Never Sakura, _he thought. _Never will I let anything hurt you. Never._

* * *

The next day after speaking to Miura, the team set out for the place where he saw his brother killed. Although Sakura was the only one who knew this. Naruto and Sai did not know what happened there except it was where the shinobi had disappeared.

The grass was burnt away in one spot and there were scorch marks on several trees. Upon closer inspection, they all saw the blood. Blood everywhere. It stained the grass and bushes and trees.

"Wow," Naruto said, examining the burnt spot in the grass. Sakura kept her distance from the spot, knowing it was where the body had been burnt away.

"Who do you think did this?" Sai asked, leaning over Naruto's shoulder.

"I don't know," Naruto said. "They must have been powerful. I can steal feel the chakra buzz around here." He looked towards Sakura, noticing that she was being quiet. She was just standing there, wringing her hands together. "Sakura-chan? What's the matter?"

"Huh? Oh. Nothing Naruto! Just uh… thinking!" She waved him off and began strolling from burnt tree to burnt tree. He eyed her suspiciously and stood up, only to bump into Sai and send them both tumbling backwards, Naruto landing directly on Sai's lap.

"Dickless. You are sitting on my lap? Does this mean you are attracted to me? I once saw a scenario like this in Kakashi's book."

"WHA? No way!" Naruto leaped to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at the Sai. "What were you doing so close to me anyway? It's your fault!"

"It was not. You were the one that landed in my lap. You're awfully defensive. Not very secure in your sexuality or your equipment are you?" Sai gave his fake smile and lifted his eyebrows.

"Why you little!" Naruto jumped onto Sai and soon they were attempting to bash eachother's heads in.

"Guys! Not now!" Sakura jumped in, stomping over to her idiot teammates. "We're on a mission!"

"He started it!" Naruto complained as pushed Sai backwards, causing Sai to kick his foot up and hit Naruto square in the jaw.

Sakura sighed and grabbed the collars of both her teammates, using her strength to pull them apart and smash them back together like symbols.

"Bakas." Naruto and Sai both rubbed their heads in pain, scowling at each other. "You two better knock it off. Let's try and figure out who's doing this and get home before I murder bother of you!"

"Yes Sakura-chan."

"Yes Ugly."

"Good," Sakura said, dropping them both to the ground. "Now come here Naruto, you're bleeding." She kneeled down on the ground next to him, but lost her balance and fell into his lap. Naruto chuckled and wrapped an arm around her to both steady and keep her there while she healed him. Shaking her head, she reached up and with her thumb, pulling down his bottom lip as she healed his cut gum.

"Sakura," he said when she was done. "I know something is wrong. And I want you to know that whatever you're worrying about, don't."

Sakura smiled and stood up, Naruto followed her and wrapped a hand around her wrist, smiling warmly.

"Come on you guys," she said, turning to look at Sai who was still massaging his skull. "Let's head east and see what we find."

They all took off, none of them noticing the perfectly concealed presence lurking just above them in the trees.

* * *

Sasuke returned to his teammates who had been waiting for him several miles in the opposite direction that his former teammates had gone.

Jugo was holding Karin, who was looking towards Suigetsu. The mist-nin had stuck his sword in the ground and was leaning against it with a lost expression on his face.

He approached his team as he contemplated what he had just seen.

Sakura. She had healed Naruto's mouth after that newcomer kicked him in the face. Sakura was a healer? Well, she always did have perfect chakra control if he remembered correctly.

"Karin," He spoke to her as if she wasn't a crippled mess and he wasn't going to kill her as soon as he replaced her. "All the files and bingo books you went through when you worked for Orochimaru. Did you read anything about a Sakura Haruno?" A look of deep thought spread over her face as she strived to remember, wanting to do anything and everything she could to just feel useful.

The name was definitely familiar. Finally she recalled having seen the name when news reached them about Sasori dying. She had been added to their bingo books and had quite a bounty on her head.

"Yes. I did," she told him.

"What do you know about her?" Suigetsu was watching the exchange, or rather he was watching Karin as she relayed information to her soon to be murderer.

"She's a Konoha shinobi that killed Sasori of Akatsuki," she told him. Well this was surprising. Sasuke never would have thought that Sakura of all people could take on someone so powerful on her own.

"Any medical training?"

Suigetsu narrowed his eyes. So that's what this was about. Karin too had also realized and was silent, not wanting to answer.

"Answer me Karin. You're going to die either way. Best not to test my patience." She flinched.

"Yes."

"What kind of training?"

"She… she…"

"She what?"

"She's the top medic-nin in the country, second only to her mentor. The fifth Hokage, Tsunade." Her head dropped and she fought the tears that threatened to escape.

Sasuke on the other hand, had stopped paying attention to her. He was lost in concentration.

Sakura Haruno, his former teammate, was a top medic-nin with perfect chakra control and powerful enough to defeat Sasori of the Sand and also trained by the Godaime Hokage herself.

"We have a new target. And this one is close." Suigetsu, Karin and Jugo all looked towards him.

He reached up, massaging the cursed mark.

"Sakura Haruno."

* * *

_**A/N: **_End of chapter three! See! I told you i would make them longer! tell me what you think and point out any mistakes. And check out my oneshot collection "We All Fall Down" for a peek at my writing. =)

-HeartOfEmerald


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: _**I'm back! Sorry I haven't updated at all this week. I lost wifi in my house and haven't been able to get on the internet until now. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Thank you everyone who's been keeping up with this story. I apologize but dear Itachi-kun will not be arriving in this chapter. Not quite yet. There is a fight scene in this chapter, which I suck at writing so please forgive me if it is badly done. I tried my hardest with it. When you're done reading I would very much appreciate feedback.  
Enjoy!

* * *

After a day of searching the area around the village, Sakura, Sai and Naruto returned to the hotel room. Sai wrote a report and went outside to send it back with one of his live drawings, leaving the two best friends in the room alone.

Naruto immediately turned to Sakura.

"Where have you been?" he asked her, poking her lightly in the head. She swatted him away and forced herself to meet his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Was it her, or did her voice sound a little high pitched?

"Oh come on Sakura-chan. I'm not a complete idiot. You've been out of it all day. Me and Sai have been on this mission by ourselves. What's going on in your head?" Sakura just shook her head. She couldn't tell him. Refused. She hadn't passed on the information she held to Sai for the report. She wanted nothing to do with Sasuke or his team of freaks. She just wanted to go home and forget all about Miura's brother and the people that killed him.

"I'm fine Naruto."

"I don't believe you." She sighed and stood up, strapping her newly polished kunai to her thigh and checking the supply of senbon in her boots.

"Sai should be back soon. Let's get going."

Naruto was familiar enough with his best friend to know that whatever was on her mind, she wouldn't be telling him. At least not today.

* * *

After saying goodbye to Miura, the team took off back towards Konoha. Naruto and Sai both made efforts to involve her in some type of conversation, but she was far too lost in her own thoughts to be distracted buy their efforts.

Sakura was suffering from a severe case of paranoia. She felt like someone was watching her, but when she looked behind her, all she saw was Naruto and Sai, neither of whom were staring at her. She had the nagging feeling of being followed, but couldn't sense anyone else's chakra in the area.

Half way back to Konoha, they stopped to take a rest and Sakura's suspicion still had not subsided.

"Naruto I think we should keep moving," she suggested. But the blonde ninja was already sprawled out on the grass.

"Relax Sakura-chan! Don't be such an over-achiever. We're way ahead of schedule. We can afford to take our time." He told her, folding his arms behind his head.

Sai was watching Sakura with a calculating gaze from his spot on the ground as she wandered around the area they had stopped in, a hard look of concentration on her face.

He was distracted when a hawk dove between the trees and came to land on his leg. One of Tsunade's messenger birds. He quickly removed the small scroll from the bird's leg and taking off again.

"What's that?" Naruto asked, causing Sakura to direct her attention to the scroll in Sai's hand.

Sai unrolled it and read over the message quickly.

"We have another mission," he announced.

"What? Baa-chan gave us another mission and we haven't even returned from this one!"

"Apparently it's very urgent," Sai explained. "She wants us to meet Jiraiya's contact."

"What do you mean? Jiraiya's contact to what?" Sakura wondered, sitting next to Sai. The scroll was in some type of code she didn't recognize. "What does it say?"

"_Team 7, we have received a message coded in a way that is only specific to Konoha ANBU. Apparently Jiraiya had a contact on the inside of Akatsuki and has heard of his death. He has asked we send Jiraiya's student and his team to meet him at the given location," _Sai recited, and studied the location given also in code. "I don't know where this is." He looked up at Sakura. And showed her the name of the decoded location.

"I think I know where that is. Naruto, isn't this around where you trained with Jiraiya a couple years back?" Sakura asked Naruto, who moved closer to look at the message.

"Yeah. But that's all the way on the other side of Fire Country. We'll be gone for ages!"

"Well, it must be pretty important for Tsunade to assign it to us on such short notice."

"Yeah, I guess…" Naruto was pouting.

Sai was still studying the map, and Sakura's attention was once again brought back to the suspicious feeling in her stomach. Except it was stronger. It was almost suffocating. Her instincts were screaming. How did Sai and Naruto not feel it?

Her hand instinctively went to her kunai on her thigh as she focused on her surroundings. Something was coming. But from where? She shut her eyes and concentrated, reaching her senses into the surrounding woods. There! She could feel it! Something was coming from the northern direction. They had been followed.

"Sai. Naruto," she spoke evenly, her tone level and serious, causing her teammates to look up. "We're being followed, and whoever it is keeps getting closer." Not questioning their pink-haired teammates skills, Sai pocketed the scroll and they both stood up, taking their places in front of Sakura.

Within a few moments, Sakura was able to determine that there was more than one person following them. At least three. And they were so close. Just another minute and they would appear through the trees.

Naruto's had a kunai clenched in both hands; Sai was holding his katana at the ready, both prepared to protect their medic-teammate no matter what happened.

They heard the sound of feet landing on the ground, and turned their attention towards it. A surprised noise sounded from Naruto's throat. Sai narrowed his eyes. Sakura tried to calm her beating heart as the very embodiment of her nightmares approached them.

Sasuke Uchiha was standing on the other side of the small clearing from them, hands placed on his hips, sharingan deactivated. Behind him was a fishy looking ninja who resembled the Akatsuki shark-nin. To his right was one of the biggest people Sakura had ever seen. He had bright orange hair and a sad expression on his face. In his arms, he carried a small red-haired girl whose face was turned away.

"Sasuke," Naruto spoke, glaring hatefully at his former teammate.

"Naruto." The Uchiha's eyes wandered from the blonde to the pale dark-haired boy, his replacement, and then to that head of pink hair he had once found so obnoxious. "Sakura."

Sakura resisted the sharp intake of breath that would have betrayed her shock at seeing him.

"What do you want Sasuke?" Naruto said across the clearing. "Are you the one that's been kidnapping the shinobi?"

Sasuke's eyes were still trained on Sakura, and it took all her willpower not to squirm under his calculating gaze.

"Don't ask questions that have nothing to do with you." Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes. "Let's make this very easy. I don't want to waste my time fighting you."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto shouted, insulted by the insinuation that fighting him would be a "waste".

"It's very simple Naruto." Sasuke directed his attention back to Naruto. "I need a medic-nin, and none of the other shinobi have the skill level necessary." His gaze went back to Sakura. "That's where you come in, Sakura."

"Like hell!" Naruto shouted, baring his teeth. "Don't even think about taking Sakura! It will never happen."

"It's not exactly your choice, is it Naruto?" Sakura's heart was beating a mile a minute, not from surprise at seeing her childhood love, but from anger. Sasuke's eyes settled back on Sakura, an almost mocking look in his eyes. "Besides, isn't that what you always wanted Sakura? To be with me? After all, that is what you said the night you begged me to-"

"Go to hell." Sasuke instantly silenced, a little surprised at the pinkette's words. She had not shouted, or screamed, or cried. She had simply said the words like a deadly curse.

"My, my Sakura. Not very polite. I would almost mistake that attitude as strength."

"Don't talk to her like that!" Naruto shouted. "You don't know anything about her."

"It's ok Naruto," Sakura stepped past Sai and Naruto, the blonde's hand coming out to grasp her wrist. She gave him a look, and he forced himself to let go of her. He watched her as she walked closer to Sasuke, stopping when she was several yards away from him, and putting her hands on her hips. "Naruto's right though. You don't know anything about me _Sasuke-kun," s_he exaggerated his name in a mocking tone that made him narrow his eyes. "I don't want to see you fight my teammates or have them get hurt because of me. So I'll make you a deal." The Uchiha tilted his head slightly, waiting to hear what she had to say. "Fight me."

"Sakura I-"

"Sai, it's fine." Sakura did not take her eyes off the Uchiha. "Fight me. If I win, you turn around, and go back to whatever hell hole you came from."

Sasuke sneered.

"And if you lose?"

"I'll go with you willingly, and Naruto and Sai will not fight you."

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura turned sharply to glare at her best friend.

"I have to do this Naruto!" she snapped. "He's already acknowledged you as an adversary. Now it's time for him to acknowledge me."

Naruto swallowed hard, not dropping his rigid defensive stance, but he didn't stop her.

"Deal." Sasuke said, smirking. His team stepped away from him, the big one carrying the girl sat down on the ground.

Sakura knew that Sasuke would not take her seriously at first. He would play along thinking she was still the weak girl from his childhood. He would underestimate her, and that would be her advantage.

Sasuke watched her for a moment before closing his eyes to activate his sharingan. When he opened them half a second later, she was gone.

"Hiding already Sakura?"

A small laugh sounded behind him, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Not even a chance." She growled slamming a kunai into his spine. With a _poof _he was gone. She had been expecting that.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" He scoffed, appearing behind her and slicing through her middle with his katana, only to cut through a water clone that splashed to the ground. "Water style? Interesting."

A rustling of leaves from the tree behind him caught his attention and he sent several shuriken in that direction, only for them to hit a blond and orange shadow clone, and have the real thing appear in front of him, sending a fist into his stomach.

Sasuke stumbled backwards, coughing slightly before standing up straight.

"Come to protect your precious cherry blossom? Figures. She was always the weakest link," Sasuke commented at the blonde.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, causing everyone to turn and look at her as she stood across the clearing, tightening the strap of her gloves. "I told you, this is my fight."

"Sakura-chan,"

"No." Naruto watched her with a worried look on his face, but he nodded and backed away to stand next to Sai.

"Heh. Still doing whatever your little Sakura-chan says. Pathetic," Sasuke mocked, glaring at his former-best friend.

"You have no idea how strong she really is."

"Do you really expect me to believe she's strong enough to fight me Naruto? You're not even strong enough to fight me."

"That's a lie and you know it," Sai spoke up, coming to defend his teammates.

"I don't expect him to think I'm strong. But then again, he always did underestimate his opponents." Her voice taunted him and she smirked, but her jade eyes were empty and expressionless, cold as ice. It unnerved him, but he wouldn't let it show.

However, he couldn't hide the shock in his eyes as she punched the ground, which erupted with enormous crash. Dust and debris flew in every direction and he had no choice but to block his face from the oncoming cloud.

Naruto and Sai watched the fight, holding their breath as they waited for the dust to clear in hopes that their beloved pink-haired teammate was ok.

They couldn't see what was going on, but they heard the loud, earth crushing sounds of Sakura's punches and kicks. If any of those hit Sasuke hard enough, he was a goner.

The feeling of helplessness that spread through Naruto as his best friend fought his former-best friend was overwhelming. It took all his will power not to jump into the dust cloud and try to protect his teammate. What he felt now must have been what inspired Sakura to become what she was. She was sick of being the underdog. Sick of being the one protected.

Sakura leapt backwards to avoid the kick Sasuke had sent towards her stomach. She gripped onto his ankle and spun, sending him flying across the clearing. He flipped in the air and landed on his feet, lifting his katana just in time to block the incoming kunai she had sent towards him.

He released a handful of shuriken in her direction, and she flew into the air to dodge them.

Too slow.

Sasuke watched with amusement as she gripped a spot just below her ribs where a shuriken had sliced her skin, blood now trickling down her side.

However, when she turned her eyes on him, she smirked. That was when he felt the slight tingling of blood dripping from a small neck wound. Any slower, and she would have pierced his jugular.

She was fast.

She was stronger, he couldn't deny that. But not strong enough.

Wind swept through the clearing and she lifted an arm to cover her eyes from the dirt that rode on the wind. Taking advantage of her blindness, he slammed his fist into her stomach. She hit the ground and rolled away, rock shards slicing into her skin. She ignored the pain and stood up slowly, spitting a bit of blood that had released into her mouth when she had bit her cheek on hitting the ground.

They continued the tai-jutsu dance until she had gotten close enough to wrap her hand around his forearm, snapping it in half. Sasuke paled, before disappearing.

Sakura internally cursed whoever thought up the replacement clone.

Sasuke was actually exerting himself. He had yet to use any nin-jutsu, thinking he could defeat her easily with his own strength alone. He had been wrong, and now he was annoyed. He didn't want to waste too much chakra, knowing that once he defeated her, Naruto would not let her go so easily.

_So gen-jutsu it is._

Sasuke locked eyes with Sakura.

Sakura looked around her, and then screamed in terror. Bodies surrounded her. Tsunade, Naruto, Sai, Kakashi, Ino, everyone. They were all dead. Bloody masses of flesh spread across the clearing. Her worst fears come to life.

_"You see Sakura? You can't protect them. You never were strong enough, and you never will be." _

The voice was piercing through her mind, but she could not find the source. The air reeked of blood and decay.

She continued to scream and shout in fear, seemingly lost in this nightmare world.

Naruto watched in silent fear as his best friend lay on the ground, screaming. Sasuke watched with disinterest. To him, it had been almost too easy to trap her.

"You see Naruto? Not strong at all," The Uchiha said to the blonde, who said nothing. _Come on Sakura; remember all the training you went through…_

Sasuke smirked watching the tortured Sakura live her darkest nightmare. He had come prepared with a secret weapon in case her teammates posed some sort of a problem, but it appeared he wouldn't need it. She was better, but not better than him.

"Silly _Sasuke-kun,_" A sweet voice came from behind him, and his eyes widened in shock as a knee connected with his lower back, sending him crashing to the ground. The Sakura who had been screaming in fear disappeared with a splash of water.

"H-how?" Sasuke demanded from her. She didn't answer, and he didn't have time to move before her kick came in contact with his stomach, pushing him down into the ground and causing rocks to pierce into his back.

He shot a hand up to punch her jaw but she caught his wrist in her hand, a little chakra aiding her strength to easily push his arm above his head and bind his wrist to the ground with a chakra rope.

He attempted to use his legs as leverage to help him flip them over but she had seen that move coming, and sent another set of chakra ropes to bind his legs.

"How?" he spat. "How did you get out of my gen-jutsu?"

Sakura smirked and lowered her head so her cheek was just a breath away from his.

"You really think I would have fought you without knowing how to defeat your strongest move?" She smirked, and readjusted her position so one knee was pressed into his neck and the other was pinning down his shoulder. "I've been training Sasuke. Ever since that day at Orochimaru's base, I've been training to see past gen-jutsu. Three years of training, and I can see right through them." She backed away and stared right into his red eyes, no fear on her hardened face. "I can see right through you."

Her knee was pushing even harder into his neck and he was having trouble breathing. He couldn't speak or use both of his hands, making any seals impossible. Was he going to die here? At the hands of the pathetic girl from his childhood? Konoha's weakest kunoichi?

He felt the tip of her kunai at his temple, but kept a straight face as he maneuvered the three hidden senbon from his sleeve.

"The last Uchiha," she spoke, her voice steady. "Oh wait. You're not the last." She smirked. "You never did succeed, did you _Sasuke-kun_?"

With an animalistic growl he used his one free arm to stick a poisoned senbon into her spine. Her body went rigid as the poison instantly paralyzed her spinal chord.

Her loss of focus caused the chakra ropes to weaken and he was able to pull free flipping them over so he was pinning her down.

Not about to give her time to wiggle free, he stabbed another senbon into the crook of one of her elbow. She screamed in pain, and glared hatefully up at him.

"You cheated," sshe spat. He narrowed his eyes and smirked. He knew she was right. Technically she had beaten him, although he'd never admit it out loud. But he needed her ability, and he wasn't going to let her go back to that weak excuse for a village.

"No. You're just weak. Nothing has changed." And with that he stuck the last poison senbon into her neck.

Sakura felt her body shut down quickly. It was one of the strangest sensations. Her heart was still beating, but it was so faint that no one would be able to pick up on it. Her eyes shut and her jaw went slack. She wasn't dead. She knew because she could still hear and feel and think. The pain in her side was still there and the feeling of Sasuke pinning her body was no less apparent. So what was this?

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto cried out. He sprinted towards the body frantically, but was stopped by Sasuke, who sent a punch to his ribs, causing the blonde to fall to the ground next to his best friend. "Sakura!" He got to his knees and crawled to her, taking her limp body in his arms. "Oh god, Sakura, _Sakura! _Wake up!"

"She's dead, Naruto. I told you. She wasn't strong enough."

"Bastard! How could you do this to her? Did she mean anything? Ever?"

"No."

It was Naruto's nightmare come to life. Sakura knew that was what her dear best friend was thinking as he held her seemingly lifeless body in his arms. She wanted to move, to speak to him and tell him that she wasn't dead. The poison that Sasuke had infected her with was some sort of draught that caused her to appear dead. It wasn't real! But she couldn't move. Sasuke had cheated, and now her best friend thought her dead.

Sai ran to Naruto's side and dropped to his knees near Sakura's head, his hand coming up to stroke her soft pink hair.

"Bastard!" Naruto cried out again, placing his best friend on the ground gently as he rushed towards Sasuke, his eyes glowing red as the anger in him threatened to release the kyuubi. Sasuke smirked and easily kicked Naruto aside. The devastation and frustration in the blonde causing his fighting to be clumsy and ineffective.

Sai, seeing his teammate losing control, ripped himself away from the lifeless pinkette and grabbed onto Naruto's arms, pinning them down to his side.

"Naruto. Come on. Don't waste your energy fighting him. Let's take Sakura back to the village. She fought so we wouldn't have to, don't throw that away," Sai tried to calm him down. Naruto's eyes were back to the normal blue, but he was quickly approaching a breakdown.

"That won't be happening," Sasuke had somehow used his speed to grab Sakura's body and return to his place near his team. "We'll be taking her body."

"You killed her! She can't be your medic now!" Sai shouted. "Why insult us by taking her body?"

"I picked up a thing or two from Kabuto. I believe there's a way to transfer Sakura's abilities to another person with compatible chakra reserves." He was bluffing, but they didn't know that. "Even if she is just a corpse."

Naruto released a pained cry and charged at him, but he and the rest of his team had already disappeared in a sudden flame that burned away once they were gone.

Naruto fell to his knees, his head dropping into his hands.

"Sakura. Sakura. Sakura," he repeated her name over and over again, tears streaming down his face as he felt his heart breaking. His body shook with pained sobs and he rocked back and forth.

Sai, not exactly sure what to do, placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, his eyes glued to the spot where that monster had taken away their beloved teammate and friend.

"Sakura," he allowed her name to fall from his lips, and closed his eyes in grief.

* * *

Already miles away, Sasuke leaped through the trees with a deathly pale Sakura in his arms. He fought the urge to look at her, knowing that with the poison he had given her, she would look like death itself.

"What was all that about Sasuke?" Suigetsu appeared on his right. "She almost had you."

"Shut up Suigetsu," Sasuke snapped, causing the mist-nin to fall back next to Jugo and Karin.

Sasuke lowered his head slightly, knowing the pink-haired kunoichi could hear him.

"They're not coming for you Sakura. They think you're dead."

_It doesn't matter, _she thought, wishing she could make her words heard. _Naruto won't let you get away with this. Never._

Behind him, Karin let the tears run silently down her face. Sasuke had his medic, despite her unwillingness.

Jugo tightened his arms around her in a type of hug that he meant to be comforting. Normally it would have helped. But not this time. She was left to wander through her own self-pitying thoughts.

_I wonder, how long will I survive?_

* * *

___**A/N: **_So? How did I do on the fight scene? Let me know! And if you have any questions or are confused about anything just leave me a little comment and I will reply as soon as I can.

- HeartOfEmerald


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: _**So as an apology for the late update yesterday, I worked my little writer self all afternoon to write another chapter of "Choices" for you all! It's a longer once, which I hope will make up for the next update which will probably not be until this weekend. For all of you who have told me how much you hate sasuke, just wait. After this one, you'll hate him even more. I apologize to any pro-Sasuke fans out there. I just hate him so much! (for those of you that are caught up on the manga and know about itachi, you understand why). Sasuke USED to be my favorite until that point. Now my true loves are Deidara and Itachi (swoon). Ok! enough of my rambling! Enjoy chapter 5!

* * *

Naruto had never been still for so long before in his life. He had never been one to stay in one place for more than a few seconds. Yet here he was, curled up on his side in his bed, exactly as he had been for the past two days. The blinds were all shut and the lights were all off. He had created himself an artificial night, and from inside his dark apartment he couldn't tell if it was light or dark outside.

He rolled off his side onto his back, staring at the immobile ceiling fan. He had no energy. No will to do anything except lay right here, and pretend that soon he would fall asleep, and when he woke up, Sakura would be flinging his door open demanding that he clean up his apartment.

He knew that wouldn't happen.

He refused to close his eyes. Every time he did, he saw her dying all over again. The last thing she would ever see was the cold, heartless eyes of the man who had broken her heart as a child.

Naruto placed a hand over his chest, clutching the material of his shirt as he fought back the onslaught of grieving emotions. Instead, he thought of the meeting with Tsunade when he and Sai had returned from the mission that was supposed to have gone so easily.

_ Sai watched his blonde teammate force himself to move, willing one foot in front of the other as they made their way through the gates of Konoha. Izumo and Kotetsu watched them, and noticed immediately the most famous team of Konoha was missing their prized Cherry Blossom. They exchanged nervous glances, both hoping for the best and refusing to acknowledge the worst._

_ Naruto had cried himself out, and now a feeling of numbness had overtaken his mind and body. He stared at his feet as he trudged along the road, feeling the eyes of the surrounding villagers on him and Sai. He didn't meet any of their stares, and continued robotically to the Hokage Tower._

_ Tsunade and Kakashi were waiting for them in the office, the blonde woman digging her nails into the wood of the desk when she saw that her apprentice was missing._

_ "What happened?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as stern and as level as she could manage. Kakashi was watching Naruto, seeing the complete emptiness that now had a hold on his features. _

_ No one answered Tsunade, and she felt her heart begin to quicken._

_ "Answer me!" she demanded. Naruto's head dropped even lower, and it was up to Sai to replay the heartbreaking events._

_ "We were followed," Sai began. "By Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto's shoulders trembled slightly and he bit down on his lip. "He, he followed us on our way back to the village. When he caught up to us, he told us he needed a medic. He wanted… he wanted-"_

_ "He wanted Sakura," Kakashi finished. Sai nodded. Naruto's frame was now shaking in short little spasms._

_ "Sakura didn't want either of us getting hurt, so she took on Sasuke herself. She would have beaten him, in fact she did. But, he somehow managed to strike her with poison senbon. It must have been strong poison. She was, well, she was… gone, rather quickly," Sai finished, and for once was almost thankful for his lack of fully functioning emotions. Seeing the pain that was so plainly shown on the faces of the other three people in the room was enough to make a part of him silently thank Danzo for the training he had received._

_ "Tsunade," Naruto said, his voice low and gravelly. Tsunade bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep her face straight. "He was looking for a medic-nin. All the other ninjas he kidnapped and killed, they were all medically trained, weren't they?" He was still looking down at the ground. Tsunade forced herself to answer._

_ "Yes."_

_ "Then, answer me this," His voice had become tight and he turned his eyes on her, glaring at the woman behind the desk with almost as much hatred that he had felt towards Sasuke in the clearing. "Why did you send us on that mission? You knew all along! You knew Sakura was in danger! How could you do this? To Sakura!"_

_ Tsunade shut her eyes, her hands trembling where they sat folded in her lap. _

_ "Naruto, I knew Sakura could handle this. Would you have let her go if you knew the complications that came with this mission?"_

_ "Hell no! And if I had known, then Sakura would still be here! She'd punch me across Konoha and then be on her way home to get ready for her shift at the hospital! Look what you've done! You sent Sakura to her death!" Naruto approached the Hokage, slamming his palms down on the desk. Tsunade was too shocked by his words to reprimand him, and instead gaped at his anger-filled expression, her own hazel eyes wide. "I will never forgive you for this," he hissed between his teeth._

_ With that, he stormed out of the office, Sai following a few moments later. Kakashi was left with Tsunade, and he could not deny the sudden weak feeling that was assaulting his legs, threatening to send him to his knees._

_ "Kakashi," Tsunade said slowly, turning her chair around so he could not see her. "Please, leave me."_

_ He didn't answer, and simply disappeared with a 'poof'. Once he was gone, Tsunade covered her face with her hands, fingertips digging into her scalp as she sobbed for her dear lost apprentice._

Naruto suspected the rest of the village had heard of Sakura's death by now, and he just didn't have the strength to face everyone yet. He had always been Sakura's source of strength, and on a few nights, she lent some of her strength back to him. Now, he was the one that needed the strong support, the comforting arm around his shoulders, but no one was there. She was gone.

She was never coming back.

* * *

"Put her over there. Make sure she's tied up tight. She'll be waking up soon." Sakura heard Sasuke's voice, and felt the arms of whoever was holding her, but she couldn't see a thing. Couldn't move even a single muscle.

The air around her had suddenly become cold and damp. She guessed that they were stopping, and had found shelter in some type of cave.

Whoever was holding her was now setting her down on the ground, positioning her so she was lying on her side. The person took her wrists and tied them behind her back, the rope cutting into the sensitive skin of her wrists. He repeated the process with her ankles, and then turned her on her back and propped her against the rough, uneven wall of the cave.

She felt someone move their face in close to hers, their breath tickling her ear.

"When you wake up, just cooperate. It will make it easier. For all of us." The voice, she realized after hours of traveling in his arms, belonged to the mist-nin, Suigetsu. His presence disappeared, and she was left alone. Well, as alone as she could be in her comatose-like state.

She heard the noises of a fire being lit and people shuffling around. An awkward, uncomfortable feeling of anxiety buzzed through the cave.

It seemed like hours that she was waiting for the poison to wear off. She continued to will her muscles to move. Finally, she was able to move her pinky finger, and then wiggle her toes. After a few minutes, she was able to shift her shoulders and move her neck. She continued to experiment with each muscle until, after what seemed like forever, she opened her eyes.

The cave was bigger than she had pictured. A fire was lit in the middle. Jugo and Suigetsu sat close to the fire, holding the redheaded girl- who she remembered was named Karin- between them. The girl looked pathetically lost, her body almost completely limp. Sakura wondered for a moment what had happened to her, before the sound of movement to her right alerted her, and her head shot to the side.

Sasuke was approaching her from his spot by the opening of the cave, and kneeled down in front of her, locking his dark onyx eyes with her jade ones.

"Can you speak?" he asked her. She narrowed her eyes, and turned her head away. The other members of his team were all watching the interaction. Sasuke gripped onto her chin, hard, and forced her to face him. "Answer me Sakura."

"I have nothing to say to you."

"So you can speak," he commented, and examined her eyes to make sure the poison had left her system. "Now it's time to answer some questions."

"Like hell." He gripped her chin harder in response.

"This will be a lot easier, and a lot less painful, if you just answer my questions." He released her chin, but continued to hold her hate-filled gaze with his own hollow one. "I already know that you're the top medic-nin in the country, so there's no denying your skill. I need you to be my medic for after I fight my brother."

"Ah. So I was right. The mighty avenger has still yet to fulfill his goal and is now in need of help from the very person he abandoned _for _that goal." She smirked. "Ironic isn't it?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

The other three members of his team all exchanged glances. _Sasuke abandoned her? Who was she?_

"Shut up Sakura. Don't talk unless I tell you to. Now, one of Jugo's animal spies heard you and your team talking about a meeting with an Akatsuki contact. Who is this person?"

"I don't know. And if I did I wouldn't tell you." Just then, his hand came up to grip onto her hair, jerking her forward as his other hand wrapped around her throat.

"Don't test me Sakura." He was surprised, no, shocked, when she did not shake in fear of him. Rather, she smirked at him.

"Don't try and act so tough Sasuke. You've already made it clear that you need me. No other medic-nin will do and you know it. You won't kill me. I am not afraid of you." His lip twitched in an angry snarl, and he shoved her back against the wall of the cave by the throat. She coughed a bit, and then looked back to him. He had stood up and was glaring down at her. "How about you answer some of my questions?" she proposed. "I get that you killed the other medic-nin because they weren't skilled enough and put up a fight, but why do you even need one? I read the file on your team back in Konoha. That girl Karin," Sakura nodded her head towards the redhead. "Has a certain way of healing. You shouldn't need me."

Sasuke sneered.

"That worthless thing? It's true, she posed some sort of use. However she made a stupid error and now she completely useless to me. No ability of hers is worth dragging her all over hell and humanity. So I need a replacement, and as soon as you cooperate, I will kill her." Sakura was taken aback by his harsh, emotionless words. As if taking a life like that was so simple.

Sakura shook her head.

"If anyone here is worthless, Sasuke, it's you." His eyes blazed at the pink-haired kunoichi's words. "Nothing is more worthless than a selfish shinobi, alive only for the purpose of revenge. Your family is dead Sasuke! And instead of taking all that power that you ran to Orochimaru for like a bitch in heat, and using it for good, you chose to use it to chase down the brother that abandoned you. Tell me Sasuke, is anything more worthless than that?"

The look of rage on the Uchiha's face was one that Sakura had never seen a match to. He raised his hand to strike her, but she did not flinch. Did not even take her eyes from his face. He stopped his motion at the unfamiliar reaction, and balled his hand into a fist, gritting his teeth together.

"I told you Sasuke. I am not afraid of you," she said to him, and she realized that this statement was completely true.

Out of nothing but sheer anger, he turned to his team, bent down and gripped Karin's arm, and wrenched her out of the other two men's arms. She whimpered in pain and shut her eyes, her face turning a pale white. Sasuke, in an action that made everyone else gasp, slapped Karin straight across her face.

"Look what I'm going through because of you!" He shouted. "If you had only done your job and stayed out of the way, none of this would be happening!" He flung her down onto the ground, causing a small scream of pain to escape her lips. "I can't wait until I'm rid of you and your useless bitching," he seethed, before storming out of the cave and disappearing into the darkness outside.

Everything was silent except for Karin's body-shaking sobs. Everyone seemed to be waiting until Sasuke's presence had disappeared from the immediate area. Once it had, Suigetsu and Jugo both stood up and rushed to Karin's side, picking her up from the ground and bringing her back to the warmth of the fire.

"Why does he keep doing this to her?" Suigetsu asked, a crease between his brows as he held Karin's head in his lap. Jugo just shook his head and stared at Karin sadly.

"What happened to her?" Sakura asked, and was met with two pairs of eyes that both looked surprised that she had spoken.

"What's it to you?" Suigetsu commented, his lip curling slightly. "Now that you're here, she probably won't survive much longer." His gaze softened when it turned back to Karin. "She always got on my nerves, but I never thought something like this would happen to her."

Jugo still said nothing, but now he was watching the sympathetic expression on the pink-haired captive's face.

"How was she hurt?" Sakura asked. "Did Sasuke do that to her?"

"No. She got hurt protecting Sasuke." Jugo answered her. Suigetsu seemed reluctant to speak to her.

Sakura suddenly remembered Mr. Miura's story about his brother. The redhead had jumped in front of Sasuke to protect him from the blow of the other ninja, and had ended up taking on the full brunt of it herself.

"Both her legs and one of her arms are completely paralyzed. She can't even move," Jugo explained. "Well, not completely paralyzed. She just feels pain in her whole body now."

Sakura watched Karin's face, which was contorted in pain.

"I can help her," she announced. Suigetsu's head shot up to look at her.

"What?" He asked.

"I can help her. I can heal her. Untie my hands. I can do it."

"You're just trying to escape!" He accused.

"So what if I am? The point is, I swear not to walk away from this place without healing her. What does it matter if I escape after that? Sasuke won't need me anymore, and Karin will be able to move on her own again. You'll have your teammate, I'll have my freedom," she negotiated.

"And what about _our_ freedom?" Jugo asked her, taking Sakura's attention off of Suigetsu.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think we are here by choice?" This took Sakura by surprise. "Orochimaru was the only home that we ever had. Not that it was much of a home, more of a prison. But still, it was all we knew. When Sasuke-sama killed Orochimaru, we had nowhere else to go. He wanted us to join him, so we had no choice."

Sakura had never thought about it that way. Perhaps these three were just as much a prisoner to Sasuke as she was at the moment.

"Jugo's right." A scratchy, weak voice came from the girl lying on the floor. "If you heal me, he'll kill us all." She glanced over at Sakura. "Well, except for you. He still needs you."

Sakura shook her head.

"You're right. Sasuke does need me. But if I healed you, then he wouldn't need me anymore. I'd either escape or be killed by him. Neither of which makes a difference. My village already thinks I'm dead." She ignored the sharp pain in her chest at her own words. "He needs you three as well. There's a reason he recruited you. All of you. Karin has other skills besides healing. She's a tracker too, right? And she can search through memories? He needs all of you. He'll never admit it, but he also won't dispose of you. At least not until his goal is met, and by then you'll have a chance to escape."

Suigetsu and Jugo exchanged nervous glances. Karin was lying on the ground, whimpering in the pain that was shooting through her limbs.

They couldn't ignore the logic behind Sakura's words. It was true; Sasuke himself had said that he wouldn't be associated with people that were of no use to him. However, he would not let something as severe as letting Sakura loose from her bindings go so easily.

"We can't let you escape," Suigetsu stated. "But we want you to heal her. She can't go on like this, and we aren't going to let Sasuke just kill her."

Sakura thought for a moment. As a shinobi in the hands of an enemy, she should take every opportunity to escape. But as a medic-nin and, well, as Sakura, she couldn't sit and watch someone in so much pain and not do anything.

"Fine. I'll figure out my own plan with Sasuke. I'll heal her." Suigetsu exchanged another glance with Jugo, who moved over to Sakura, quickly untying the ropes around wrists and bringing her hands around to her front, keeping a firm grasp on both her wrists while at the same time making sure to be gentle for the sake of the rope burns.

He moved her closer to Karin, and held her hands over Karin's body.

"Turn her over onto her stomach," she ordered, her medic's voice kicking in. All business now. Suigetsu nodded and gingerly but swiftly maneuvered Karin onto her stomach, trying to cause her as little pain as possible.

Sakura's hands began to glow green as they hovered above Karin's spine, only to be stopped by Suigetsu.

"If you hurt her," he began, a hard look on his face. "I'll kill you myself. I don't care what Sasuke will do to me." Sakura held his violet gaze for a moment before nodding, turning back to focus on Karin.

Her glowing hands lowered onto the girl's spine, making the redhead flinch, and then relax under the soothing chakra. Sakura quickly examined the problem and went to work. She repaired the nerve damage and straightened out the disks of her spinal chord. She followed the injury up her spine to the base of her skull where she soothed the muscles and then down to her shoulders, straightening the shoulder blades that had been jolted out of place. It's no wonder the girl was in so much pain.

Sakura had almost completed the healing when Sasuke suddenly appeared, standing over them, his aura dark and menacing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he seethed, reaching down and wrenching Sakura up by the neck, making quick work of pinning her arms behind her back and throwing her down to the ground. Her wrists were gripped in one hand while the other held her face down to the ground, his knee pressed into the small of her back.

"Sasuke-sama!" Jugo exclaimed. "She healed Karin! We weren't letting her escape. We were just seeing the extent of her medical abilities." Sasuke was fuming and he turned his blood red eyes on Karin, who was still lying on the ground, slightly trembling.

"Karin," he barked. "Stand up." Karin flinched, then nodded. Miraculously, both arms came up to help push her off the ground, all the muscles in her body trembling at the exertion. But the pain was gone, and with a few shaky steps, she was able to make it to her feet. "Well would you look at that." He turned his attention back to Sakura. "You are quite the talented little medic."

Karin, although wanting to watch what was happening with Sasuke and Sakura, couldn't help but experiment with her newly healed body. She stretched out her limbs, checking to see if everything worked. The last three fingers of her right hand were still useless, but it wasn't that much of a big deal and her left leg was a little shaky. Both of these things she could live with.

Sakura did not reply to Sasuke and instead kept her face in a hardened expression. This didn't seem to faze Sasuke as he tied her wrists with chakra ropes, and then reached into his nearby pack and pulled out a small scroll. He performed the proper seals and three metal rings appeared, one larger than the other two. He placed one of each of the smaller ones around her wrists and then pumped his chakra into it until it shrank down to fit her wrist. He did the same with the larger one, except placed this one over her head and fastened it around her neck. He released the chakra ropes and stood up.

Sakura, wondering why he hadn't bound her hands again, lifted her wrists to her face to examine the metal bands.

"You know what those are, don't you Sakura?" Sasuke said, tilting his head to the side. "They seal your chakra. Except, if you try and use any of your chakra, for any purpose, I'll know, and I will do this," He made a hands seal and suddenly the metal band around her neck began to tighten. She gripped the band desperately, but it continued to shrink until she was gasping for air. Just when she thought she would pass out, he released the hands seal, and the band loosened. Sakura sucked in a grateful breath of air. "If you try to escape, I will incapacitate you. Do as I say, and I won't have to do that again."

He turned to Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo.

"As for you two," he said, directed to the two males. "Don't think I will forget about this." Now he glared at Karin. "And you. I guess you're not completely worthless now that you can move. Get over here," he demanded sharply. Karin, not daring to disobey since her life was still in danger, nodded and walked shakily towards him. He pushed her towards Sakura, who still sat on the ground with her hands at her neck. "Scope through her memories. I want any information you can find about her team and all the content of the scroll with information on the Akatsuki contact. Whoever it is will have something on Itachi's location."

Karin fought back the tears and turned to Sakura, who was backing away from the redhead. She didn't want anyone inside of her mind. Such an invasive procedure would surely betray the information she had. Information that Sasuke mustn't get his hands on.

Karin locked eyes with Sakura, an apologetic look in the red orbs, and then pressed her fingertips to Sakura's temples.

Sasuke watched as Sakura immediately went rigid, her eyes snapping shut as she tried to fight the oncoming invasion of Karin's probing chakra.

When it was over, Karin stood up and Sakura slumped onto the floor, her breathing shallow. Karin walked over to Sasuke, who tilted his head down for Karin to reach. Her fingertips pressed to his temples and he awaited the flow of information.

He saw his former teacher, Kakashi. And her other teammates. A few training sessions, missions, nothing special but it showed their fighting styles. One scene of what appeared to be Naruto and Sakura after having sex for the first time. He ignored that scene and the bitter taste in his mouth it caused. Followed by that were more scenes of his former teammates in bed together, but not in the romantic way. They were just sleeping, or Naruto was comforting Sakura, or she was toying with his hair. It appeared their bond had grown stronger in his absence.

Next came the previous mission. The one that he had run into them on. He went through the conversation involving the scroll from the fifth Hokage and made sure to burn the location of the contact meeting in his mind.

Karin pulled away and dropped her gaze to the ground, backing away to sit next to the fire.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura once, smirked, and returned to his spot at the opening of the cave. Sakura untied the ropes from her ankles and retreated as far from Sasuke as the cave would allow, curling up on the cold hard ground and wrapping her arms around her body.

Wait. That was all she could do. Wait for whatever this nightmare held for her to work itself out. She closed her eyes and cried. Something she rarely did anymore. She cried for Naruto and Sai. Kakashi and Tsunade. They thought she was dead, and they wouldn't be coming after her. Sasuke must have known that, which was why he had to trick them into thinking her dead. If they thought there was even a chance of her being alive, they would have followed and fought to the death to rescue her.

Least of all, she cried for herself. In everyone else's mind, except for the four in this room, she had died. So she cried as her own funeral. For the Sakura that was now dead to the world.

She would have to stop whatever was unfolding. And she would have to do it on her own. She stopped crying, and made a decision.

She chose to fight.

* * *

Sasuke was still awake late into the night. Karin was asleep between Suigetsu and Jugo, and Sakura was sprawled out on her back somewhere in the back of the cave.

Not being able to resist the temptation, he walked deeper into the cave and stood over Sakura's sleeping form, kneeling down silently to get a better look at her.

Her face was pale and her hair was longer. She was about the same height as she had been when he last saw her, but her body was much more developed. Her new shinobi outfit showed off her matured curves. Who was this girl? She had defeated him in combat. True, they hadn't been using nin-jutsu, but he had no doubt that she probably had a few special techniques up her sleeve.

He didn't realize what was happening until he saw his hand reaching towards her face, and quickly retracted it, fisting his hand at his side and standing up.

He couldn't describe what had just happened, but he chose to ignore the burning sensation in his chest and turned once again to gaze outside the cave.

Karin was the only one who had witnessed Sasuke's mask crack.

* * *

_**A/N: **_Woah ho ho! Some sensitivity from Sasuke-teme! surprised? Eh, i guess i had to throw SOME humanity in there. Anyway, tell me what you think! And thank you to all those who are favoriting me and this story and adding it your alerts list! I really appreciate it! Along with those who have reviewed! Keep those reviews coming in. They make me happy! Look forward to my next chapter this weekend and perhaps even a few more songfics in my one shot collection "We All Fall Down"

-HeartOfEmerald


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: **_As promised, another chapter of "Choices"! This one is mostly just showing how Sakura's team is adapting after her "death". And it also gives a little preview into the next arc of this story. because- and i am happy to announce this- itachi WILL BE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! I am starting the Akatsuki portion in the next chapter. so you will all have that to look forward to! =) also i have new oneshots to be read in "We All Fall Down" so check those out.  
Now without further adieu, i bring you chapter six of "Choices".

* * *

By now all of Konoha had heard about the loss of their beloved kunoichi. A memorial was held and it was attended by nearly every person in the village. Every one of her friends, every shinobi she had ever worked with. All the nurses and doctors from the hospital and all the civilians and ninja she had ever healed. Everyone. Right down to the employees of her favorite stores and restaurants. They were all there, dressed in black and carrying cherry blossoms. Some had stories to tell about her, others just stood there with blank expressions. Ino kneeled before the picture of her best friend and rival, holding herself as she sobbed. Ten-Ten and Hinata stood behind her; tears running silently down their faces as they placed comforting hands on the blonde's shoulders.

Naruto, Sai and Kakashi stood off to the side. They couldn't find it in themselves to stand with the rest of the crowd. None of them had known her like her team had. Not a single one of them was as close to her as the three standing off by themselves.

That night, Naruto had walked by the memorial. He couldn't sleep again. People had lit pink candles for her. Someone had mentioned planting a garden centered around a sakura tree outside the hospital in her honor. None of that was good enough. Not for Naruto.

His world was far less bright without her in it. He missed the sound of her laughter and the way she would call him an idiot when he checked out of the hospital early. He missed the way she would stumble out of her bedroom in the morning, usually wearing one of his T-shirts that she had stolen from him and her pink hair in sleepy disarray as she rubbed her eyes. He would do anything to get her back. He would give his own life if she could just come back.

He walked away from the memorial. Tomorrow, he, Sai, and Kakashi would go to Sakura's apartment and decide what they would do with her belongings. If they had a choice, they would leave everything exactly as she had left it and not touch a thing. But they couldn't. Sakura lived in a shinobi apartment. Now that she was gone, it would be rented out to another ninja in need of somewhere to stay.

Naruto made his way to the Team 7 training grounds, leaning against the wooden post he had been tied to as a genin.

The training ground was so different now. It had actually grown in size due to the trees that had been uprooted during training sessions. Not to mention the extremely uneven ground, courtesy of Sakura's earth-shattering punches. In fact there was a still-new crater at the other end of the field.

How many hours had he spent here with Sakura? Sometimes she was the one who chose to come here, feeling insecure and needing to prove herself by sparring with him for hours on end. Other times she would just sit and watch him and Sai, healing them whenever things got too far.

Suddenly there was far too much Sakura here, and he needed to leave.

His next destination probably wasn't the best choice he could have made.

The red bridge that Team 7 had been meeting at for years. He didn't step onto the bridge, just stood on the grass one step away from the red planks. He watched the memories come to life on the bridge. Sakura hanging on Sasuke's arm with hearts in her eyes as he tried to get her attention away from his brooding teammate while they waited for their sensei. Always "lost on the road of life". Sasuke had never treated Sakura with the respect she deserved- and now as a matured kunoichi- demanded.

He saw him and Sakura standing here after she had just turned sixteen, his arm around her as they laughed about anything and everything, ending the night in Sakura's apartment where they lost their virginity to each other. It hadn't changed their friendship. It hadn't made them romantically involved. But after everything that had happened to them, they just didn't trust anyone else enough to be involved with in such an intimate way.

That night was one of his most cherished memories. Not because of what they did, but because it was the first time that Sakura let all her boundaries down. Before that night, Naruto had only had a vague idea of all the pain she carried in her heart. But she had shown him, and he had seen her in a whole new light. He respected her on so many new levels after that night. She was suddenly stronger and more beautiful than she had ever been before. What was best was that they became closer than ever, and over the next two years, they grew closer still.

All that was lost now.

He started walking again, passing the ramen shop that he could no longer eat at because it reminded him of her. He ended up back in his studio apartment, where he lay down in his bed. One of Sakura's pillows was still in his bed. When she slept over, she couldn't sleep on his pillows. She swore that she needed her own, so he kept one for her.

He held the pillow, which he always thought was too squishy, and held it to his face. The smell of her shampoo was still in the red fabric of the pillowcase.

Would this ever get easier? Would he ever be happy again without her? When he was feeling down, or lost, he would go to her. Now, he was the most depressed he had ever been in his life, and the only person he could turn to was gone.

"Sakura," he whispered her name, pleading to God that her voice would answer him.

It never did. It never would.

* * *

At the same time, Sai was in his apartment, staring at his walls and all the paintings that decorated them. But instead of seeing the works of art, all he saw was pink. Pink hair, green eyes, and the brightest smile that would never be seen again.

He did not understand the emotion he was feeling. It was new, and yet familiar. He thought of his brother and best friend from Root. Had Sai felt this way when he died? He thought he did. How else could such a strong emotion feel so familiar?

All his paintings had names now. Sakura had spent hours in his apartment, helping him to associate the paintings with emotions, places, and people. Anything that could help give identity to the paintings she never tired of looking at.

It was strange. Someone that had once been a major part of his everyday life was no longer there. She would never knock on his door again, with a smile on her face and a bag of dangos in her hand. She would never glare at him for calling her "Ugly". She would never teach him all the painful, tragic, but beautiful and joyous feelings that came with having emotions.

He turned away from the walls of paintings and sat at the stool in front of his easel, a fresh blank canvas waiting.

He spent hours in this spot, silent except for the faint scratching of his brush against the canvas. By the time he was satisfied, the sun had started to rise, turning the sky a faint gold-gray. Sakura had once told him it was one of her favorite skies. A new morning meant new opportunities. That, and the sky just before it rained. That was her true favorite. When the sky was white. No clouds, no sun. A blank slate.

He placed his brush on the nearby table, crossing his arms as he examined his work. How long had he worked on finding the perfect shade of pink and green? On shaping her eyes just right, or making sure her smile was just as welcoming and mysterious as the true Sakura's.

Yes, the painting was as perfect as it would ever be. But it was not her. He could not bring her back just by putting her image on a canvas.

He picked up the canvas and hung it on a newly cleared space next to the window. On the little piece of paper pinned below it, he wrote one word. The word she had never quite been able to make him understand.

_Love._

* * *

Kakashi had not been able to sleep, and spent the night watching his remaining former-students. Naruto was distraught, and Kakashi was worried that he would never recover from this blow. Sai appeared to be trying to reincarnate Sakura through his paintings. His heart, stripped of emotions, striving to show grief in the only outlet available.

_Sakura, _he thought. _You always thought you were the weakest link. You thought you were not an essential component in this team. I wonder, do you see this from where you are? Do you see how much they really need you? _He sighed and jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he stood on the balcony outside Sakura's apartment. He wouldn't go in yet. He would wait for Naruto and Sai. This was one appointment he would not be late to.

_I wish you could see how much you really meant to them. To all of us._

* * *

Sakura had lost track of how long they had been travelling. She was forced to rely on her strength alone to propel her through the trees, not being able to infuse chakra into her legs due to the chakra bands. She was exhausted, but they showed no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, they came to a small village that Sakura couldn't help but be a little creeped out by. She guessed she shouldn't have been surprised. Sasuke couldn't exactly show his face anywhere he was recognized.

They came to what she assumed was an inn. It was more like a small red brick building with no windows and a sign with the word "Vacancy" on the door. Inside, the innkeeper was a gross looking old man with a weird crusty patch on his neck that Sakura couldn't seem to look away from. In fact, she was so distracted by it, that she had not noticed the man leering at her with a disgusting look in his eye.

But Sasuke had noticed.

He shot the man his most dangerous warning glare and grabbed Sakura by the back of her neck, forcing her down the hallway to their rooms all the way at the end.

Suigetsu and Karin opened the door of one, waiting for Jugo to join them. Jugo however, went to go take Sakura from Sasuke's possession. The Uchiha responded by yanking Sakura backwards by the hair, issuing an angry hiss from the kunoichi.

"Do you honestly think I'd allow you three to keep an eye on her? After that scene back in the cave?" he said harshly, glaring at each of them individually. "I'll watch her." And with that, he opened the door to the second room and pushed her inside, slamming the door behind him.

She fell to the grimy carpet, turning over onto her back.

"You know, you could _ask _me to move. I already know I can't run anywhere." He grunted at her and kneeled down next to her, ignoring her protests as he sat her back against the bed and bound her wrists to the iron bed frame with ropes.

"Stay here," he instructed, and disappeared.

She would have tried to struggle, but knew that if she did, he'd probably suffocate her again, and she didn't exactly feel like risking her life just yet.

She leaned her head back on the bed, closing her eyes. She might as well get some rest while being held hostage.

The door opened and she assumed it was Sasuke, so she didn't open her eyes. But then who ever it was sat next to her on the floor, their thumb running across her lips. Her eyes shot open and her heart jolted in fear as she came face to face with the innkeeper.

Seeing her about to scream, he covered her mouth with his dry, wrinkled hand. He didn't say any words, knowing shinobi were in the next room. Instead, he smiled a crooked, lecherous smile as his free hand pushed up her mesh top and groped painfully at her breast. She screamed against his palm, but it was muffled and barely heard.

She couldn't even fight back. If she used her chakra, Sasuke would think she was escaping and kill her. If she didn't, this creep would have his way with her while she was helpless.

Choosing her dignity over obedience, she summoned chakra to her arms and broke away from the bed frame, slamming her fist into the innkeepers jaw. Almost instantly, she felt the metal band around her neck constricting. She started the struggle for breath, not able to scream.

The door was kicked open, Sasuke stood with fury in his eyes and his hands held in a seal. He took in the scene of Sakura with her shirt half off and the old man crumpled across the room and released the hand seal. Sakura sucked in air greedily and coughed, her hands flying to her throat as she looked at Sasuke with something similar to gratitude.

Anger rose in the Uchiha and he grabbed the old man by the neck.

"Sasuke, no!" Sakura cried, but it was too late. Sasuke had snapped the man's neck and had dropped him into a crumpled heap on the floor. "Sasuke! What have you done?"

To be honest, Sasuke didn't know. He had killed before, but never for a reason like this. There had been an occasion where Karin had been raped and he did nothing. In fact, he had even ordered Karin to sleep with a few men in exchange for a place to sleep, weapons or transportation. So why had he killed this man for attempting to violate the girl that he had once despised as a child?

He did not answer himself or Sakura's questioning glare. Instead, he picked up the man and jumped from the room's only window, not bothering to tie her up again.

Sakura knew he was disposing of the body. She was shocked. Why would Sasuke care about some sleazy old man trying to take advantage of her? That was something she would expect from Naruto. Not the man who had betrayed her.

He returned a few moments later, bringing with him the smell of burnt flesh. She held back a gag and turned away from him, grabbing a blanket and pillow off the bed and retreating to a corner. She flicked aside a dead roach and lay down on the blanket, curling up against the pillow. God, she would kill for one of her own pillows right now. Surely she wouldn't sleep tonight.

"Sakura." Her eyes narrowed at his voice. She didn't roll over to face him. He knew she wasn't sleeping. When he said nothing, she turned over halfway to look at him.

He was leaning against the wall by the window, as far from her as possible.

"What do you want Sasuke?" she asked the question as if she didn't give a damn in the world. She didn't.

"Never mind," he grunted, and lay down on the bed, locking his arms behind his head.

Neither one of them slept that night. Sakura was able to distract herself with thoughts of her home. Sasuke on the other hand, found himself far too aware of her presence. Just a few feet away from him on the floor.

* * *

They departed the next morning before the sun came up, needing to leave before anyone noticed the innkeeper's absence.

A few hours away from the town, they stopped. Sitting down in a small circle in the midst of a forest. Sasuke removed a map from Sakura's bag, which Jugo had in his custody along with all her weapons and medical supplies. He opened the map and marked their location in it.

"Our destination is the southern peninsula of Fire Country," he told them. Sakura swallowed hard, recognizing the place as where Tsunade had instructed them to go. That mission was probably abandoned now. Without her, their team was incomplete and it was law that teams with less than three chunin and a jounin captain were not permitted to go on missions.

She kept her mouth shut, hoping for a potential opportunity to escape if she was able to form a plan around his.

"There will be an Akatsuki contact there. Whoever it is will have information on Itachi's location." He turned to Sakura suddenly, locking eyes with her. "You're going to help us." Her eyes narrowed.

"Like hell." He glared at her, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her forwards, his fingers digging into her soft flesh.

"You'll do exactly as I say. If you want to live and have even a chance of seeing that dobe again, you'll do whatever I say and you'll keep your mouth shut." The hostility radiated from her body, and everyone felt it. He released her and turned back to the map. "Like I said, Sakura will help us. We are going to send her in to meet the contact and get all the information possible." He looked at the pinkette again. "And don't try anything funny. We'll be listening, and if you try to escape or get help from this person, I'll kill you."

She didn't answer and instead glanced toward the other three members of his team. Were they really so desperate for a place to belong that they would do whatever this monster said?

Apparently so.

"When we find my brother, I will succeed my goal. Then Sakura, you will heal me in whatever way needed."

"No."

"I've already told you-"

"No. I will not heal you. Not while knowing you will probably kill me afterwards." She held his vicious gaze with her own, equally menacing. He ignored the feelings it stirred in him.

"What do you want?"

"My freedom."

"No."

"I believe I have the bargaining piece here, Uchiha. You need my healing abilities. Without it, you'll probably die soon after you kill your brother." She smirked. "That is if he doesn't kill you first." His nostrils flared and his hands balled into fists. "Good. I have your attention." She smiled mockingly, fueling his anger further.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin were all captivated by the verbal and mental showdown going on between the two. They had never seen Sasuke react so… visibly. And he was actually _listening _to the girl. If any of them had ever tried to speak to him in that way, he'd probably hit them with the chidori.

That was not the case with this girl.

Who _was_ she to him?

"I will be your pawn and get the information you need, and I will heal you after you fight your brother. In exchange, you will let me go and I won't tell anyone where you are. They all think I'm dead, they'll be satisfied just having me back."

Sasuke hated this girl. She was not the same as the girl from his childhood, but she was far more annoying. Not in the lovey-dovey way that used to make him gag, but in the fact that she was able to seduce such violent reactions from him.

Damn her.

"Deal."

* * *

Kakashi, Sai and Naruto entered Sakura's apartment for the first time since before they had left on the mission. As soon as they stepped inside, they were overwhelmed by not only the emptiness, but also by the way that it _felt _like Sakura. The sandals she always wore on her days off were still on the floor next to the door where she had kicked them off. Medical textbooks and scrolls were scattered across the floor and coffee table, still open from her last all night study session. A white towel was still on the floor where she had dropped it after drying her hair, too tired to be neat after a night shift at the hospital.

They worked from room to room, not speaking. No one had anything to say that could possibly fill the emptiness.

They packed up all her books and threw out all the food in her kitchen she had left behind. They took down her pictures, packing them in another box. Sai and Kakashi vacuumed the floors and cleaned the bathroom, leaving Naruto to take care of her bedroom.

His heart lurched upon entering the room. He had slept here the night before the mission. He had told her his nightmare. The very nightmare that had come true.

He went through her clothes, putting them in boxes along with all her pillows and sheets. He wouldn't throw her stuff out. He couldn't. This was her. He couldn't get rid of it all. When everything else was done, he sat on her now bare bed, opening up the drawer of the bedside table. Inside was a bunch of random stuff that he would probably just throw in a bag. Some makeup, a little wooden bear he had won her at a festival last year, and the book she had been reading; the page she left off on still bookmarked. When he reached into the back of the drawer to grab whatever stray stuff was back there, his hand closed around something metal.

He knew what it was before pulling it out. He figured she had an extra forehead protector in case she lost hers or something.

This was not the case.

The forehead protector he held in his hand was not Sakura's, but Sasuke's. The one that Naruto had cut a slash into during their last battle as twelve year olds. He hadn't known Sakura had kept it.

He closed his fist around it, squeezing it until his knuckles turned white.

_Sakura, even though you had given up on him, you never could bring yourself to hate him or anyone else. _His teeth ground together as he held back more tears. _I will never forgive him. I will make him pay for what he's done to you._

* * *

___**A/N: **_Ta-da! How did you all like it? I hope the ending wasn't too rushed or anything. let me know what you think!  
ALSO! I just opened up a DeviantART account under the same name as my FF name. I am not an artist so i do not have any drawings up there. I was wondering that if anyone reading who IS an artist and would like to illustrate a chapter or one of my one-shots for me, i would love that! I would post a link to the picture on my profile as well as feature it on DeviantART if you would like. Just an idea.  
As always, comments and criticism are always welcome. I look forward to hearing all of your opinions. Much love!

-HeartOfEmerald


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N:_** (Omg emerald! Where have you been?) Well hello there parenthesis guy! I have been so busy that I havent gotten a chance to do any writing! I am not dead and I am sincerely sorry! I hope this chapter and the next will make up for it! The chapter after this one is EXTREMELY short. Originally it was a part of this one but I decided it would be best as it's own separate thing. You'll see why momentarily.  
Thank you everyone who has enjoyed this story! I hope it gets better as it continues! Now...BEGIN READING!

* * *

Sakura's muscles were screaming from the exerted force of leaping through the trees without any rest. They hadn't taken a break since Sasuke announced the plan and it was apparent that all the members of Hawk besides their leader were feeling the effects. Suigetsu and Jugo's movements were sluggish and the exhaustion was apparent on their faces. Karin seemed the worse off. Sakura had healed her almost completely, but the limp in the redhead's leg was slowing her down, making her have to exert more energy than her team members.

Sakura, who traveled behind Sasuke, kept and eye on Karin at her right side, noticing the way her movements grew more unsteadied with every passing mile.

An hour before sundown, Sakura was less concerned about the pain in her own body than she was about the pain she imagined Karin must be feeling. She made sure to keep half her attention on the redhead kunoichi. This proved to be necessary when Karin's foot slipped against a branch and she let out a scream as she began spiraling towards the ground. Sakura, having already been prepared for that, dove down between the branches and caught Karin's arm, pulling it over her own shoulder and balancing them on their feet before they hit the ground. Jugo and Suigetsu both stopped in the trees when they had noticed what had happened. Sasuke went ahead for a few more leaps and then looked back, irritated that he was being slowed down.

"What the hell is going on back there?" he called out.

"Karin fell," Jugo told him. Sasuke growled in irritation and jumped to a branch just above where Karin and Sakura stood on the ground.

"Keep moving! We don't have time for your petty weaknesses."

"She fell Sasuke! She's exhausted! We haven't had rest all day! Everyone on your team is suffering!" Sakura spat at him. Suddenly the Uchiha was standing before her, his hand wrapped around her jaw.

"You don't have an opinion on how I handle my team. You are my captive. Now get moving." Sakura jerked her head out of his grasp, glaring daggers at him.

"You can't do this Sasuke. Not only are you hurting your team, you're also wasting your own energy! How can you expect to fight your brother when you wasted all your strength on getting to the battle? Do what's good for everyone and just slow down!" Sakura knew that relating things back to his brother was the easiest way to manipulate him right now. Sasuke knew exactly what she was doing, but he couldn't ignore the logic behind her reasons, no matter how much they were in favor of her and his team.

"We stop at the next town. One night only. No more. After that, it's straight to the Akatsuki contact."

* * *

The inn was a fairly nice one. Windows lined the hallways and dead bugs didn't litter the carpets in the rooms. The inn even had it's own hot baths.

They arrived well past sundown, Sasuke getting the keys to two rooms. Jugo and Suigetsu carried Karin's pack and weapons into the room the three of them shared and Sasuke disappeared into the other room he would take with Sakura. The pinkette moved slowly down the hall, supporting Karin.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Karin asked Sakura, who simply gave her a small, kind smile.

"Because I can understand you." The look on Karin's face was one of sheer confusion and surprise. "Let's just say, I know what it's like being the weakest link on a team of guys that always surpass you. That always looks at you like you need to be protected. It's not a good feeling."

Karin was speechless. She didn't know what to say to this girl that was supposed to be the captive of her team. Not to mention that she still remembered the strange look of what seemed like longing on Sasuke's face when he had watched Sakura sleep.

Sakura was quiet as she helped Karin into her room, handing her over to Suigetsu, who gave Sakura a look of gratitude. Sakura simply nodded in response and retreated to the room she would share with Sasuke.

This room was bigger than the other inn they had stayed at. Besides the bed there was also a couch that was just barely big enough to fit someone of Sakura's small stature. Walking right past Sasuke, who was leaning against the wall, she grabbed a pillow and a sheet off the bed and dropped it on the couch.

"Take the bed," he said suddenly. Sakura turned towards him, eyes wide with surprise.

"What?"

"I'll sleep on the couch. You can sleep on the bed." Confused, Sakura nodded. Sasuke wouldn't fit on the couch, but she'd be stupid to pass up an offer of comfort. Even if it was from a bastard like him.

She became very aware that she hadn't changed her clothes in a few days. She needed a shower and she needed to wash her clothes. Any change of clothes she had would be in her pack and there was no way Sasuke would let her get her hands on that. Sighing, she went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Sasuke didn't stop her.

She filled the sink with warm water and stripped out of her dirty clothes, dropping them into the water. She took one of the complimentary hotel robes and pulled it on over her body.

She left the bathroom and went to walk into the hallway. Sasuke appeared in front of her as she reached for the handle of the door.

"Where are you going?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"To the baths."

"What makes you think I'll let you?"

"Because you can suffocate and kill me the second you realize I am gone." They held the staring contest for a little while longer, but for different reasons. Sakura was subconsciously competing for a type of dominance over the Uchiha. Sasuke however, couldn't look away from her eyes.

Eventually she broke away first and stomped down the hall towards the bath, leaving a very confused Uchiha. It certainly was a rare sight indeed and he was grateful that no one was there to witness it.

* * *

Safe in the steam filled room of the baths, Sakura dropped her robe towel by the edge of the tiled pool and stepped in. Most of the guests were probably all sleeping now, so she had the bath all to herself.

The warm water felt like heaven against her skin. It came up to just above her breasts and she allowed herself to drop under the surface. She opened her eyes under the warm water, using her hands to play with the swirling strands of pink hair.

* * *

Sasuke was left in the room to wonder at what he had just felt. Something about the staring contest between him and Sakura had felt so… wrong. Since when had she been able to return his glare with equal ferocity? It didn't feel right. He was so used to the twelve-year-old Sakura who was obsessed with him and more concerned about her appearance than her ability as a shinobi. This clearly was no longer the case, and it deeply unsettled him.

Exactly how much had changed since he'd been away? (He ignored the images of seeing Sakura's memories of lying in bed with that blonde idiot.)

And yet he had still seen some of the old Sakura in the way she interacted with Karin. Sakura had always seen the good in people, always loved the unlovable. That aspect in her personality had not changed, and it stirred strange feelings in him. Feelings he thought he had long since buried.

He had never felt homesick after his decision to leave Konoha. Never regretted his choices. But looking at the matured Sakura, he found himself feeling those emotions that he had never felt before.

He saw a bit of his old life in the fiery words and gestures and the bottomless green eyes of his former teammate. He was still human, despite the opinions of others, and he couldn't deny the attraction he felt towards what she offered. She was like a little piece of the village that had raised him. A little bit of his first home. He wanted to grasp it. Just a tiny part of it. To feel what he had not had the chance to feel back when he was still considered an innocent.

With that, he made a decision.

After all, whatever he wanted, he took.

* * *

She lost track of the time she had spent in the water, allowing herself to let her body float under the surface with her head leaned against the edge of the pool, her eyes closed in bliss.

She heard a splash from the other end of the pool, letting her know that someone had joined her. She paid them no mind and continued with her private time of luxury. God only knew when she would get this chance again.

The person was approaching her, and the closer they got the more concerned she was that the person was some creep. This concern was strengthened by the fact that it was a shared bath between men and women.

When the person was less than a foot away from her, she decided it was time to speak up.

"Move an inch closer and you will never have children." Her voice was deadpanned, and perfectly serious.

"Is that a threat?" She froze. She knew that voice. Willing herself to be mistaken, she cracked one jade eye open, and it locked onto the Uchiha. She jumped from her position and backed against the tiled wall, covering her naked chest with her arms.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" she exclaimed, glaring at him angrily, a hot blush covering her cheeks.

"Taking a bath. What does it look like?"

"It looks like a serious invasion of space!" She decided her private luxury time was over and moved to leave the bath.

A hand wrapped around her wrist stopped her.

She turned back to look from him, to the hand wrapped around her wrist, thumb smoothing over the metal of the chakra band.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was much quieter now, but no less firm.

"I came in here to talk to you."

"And you couldn't wait until I was back in the hotel room with _clothes _on?"

She did not miss the way his eyes flickered over her wet skin.

He pulled her by the wrist, causing her struggle, but he was stronger. Soon she was back in her position against the tile wall, her arms covering her and him standing in front of her, her eyes locked on his face. She wasn't happy.

"I don't…" He looked away and took a frustrated breath. Sakura's expression of anger changed to one of curiosity. Sasuke? At a loss for words? Forget a loss for words. Sasuke looking for words to have an actual conversation with another human being? What was the world coming to?

He turned his attention back on her.

"I don't, understand what I am feeling." His eyes dropped closed. "I'm confused by it. By you."

Sakura was speechless. How was she supposed to respond to something like this?

"I don't understand."

"Well neither do I!" His eyes shot open and he gripped her shoulders. Sakura was starting to get really uncomfortable being this close to him, in the water, naked. "I thought I had broken my bonds when we captured you. You were nothing to me. Now, you're stuck in my head like a virus. What is happening to me? I used to hate you."

Sakura, as a child, would have been thrilled and hurt at his words. It proved that had once cared for her and still did. But she had long since given up on this man in front of her. She was not the same young girl that she had been when he had left the village six years ago. Hell, she wasn't even the same girl from that day when she had ditched her teammates and went to kill Sasuke herself after the Kage Meeting, and had failed miserably. No. She was different now. She had only one feeling towards this man in front of her.

Angry indifference.

"Guilt." Sasuke's eyes widened at the word that came from the girl's lips. She was not looking at him. Her wet hair was covering her face so he couldn't see her eyes. "Guilt, and selfishness." Now she looked up to him. She locked those breathtaking jade eyes on him, filled with a hardened expression he had never seen on anyone else except himself. "You feel guilty, because you know you abandoned the only people left in the world that loved you." He was stunned silent. Gaining confidence, she straightened herself up, keeping her arms folded over her breasts. "And you're a selfish bastard too. You always wanted all the things you couldn't have. Your family, the death of your brother, to surpass Naruto. You will never get any of those things and yet they were what you wanted most. Now, you've lost Naruto and you want me." She smirked, and he had no words against her as she continued her speech. "But you know that neither of us want you back. You know the only people that loved you now know better and want nothing to do with you. So you want them back. You want me, because you can no longer have me." Abandoning her modesty, she dropped her arms and used them to pull his hands off his shoulders and move away from him.

Sasuke was frozen. He couldn't move, even if he wanted to.

She moved to get out of the pool, wrapping the towel around herself quickly.

"I will help you find your brother, and I will heal you after you fight him. But then, you will take off these bands, and I will go back to Konoha. Back to Naruto. Back to my home." And with those words, she left.

Sasuke sunk down into the water. His whole life he had bitched about how alone he was in the world. Now, it was truer than it had been ever before.

Now he knew what 'alone' really was.

* * *

They were just a few miles away from where the Akatsuki contact would be and they had stopped to put the pieces of the plan together.

"Whoever it is won't believe that you are a shinobi without your weapons. So I'm returning your belongings to you." Sasuke handed Sakura her bag, seeming to know she wouldn't suddenly pull a kunai on him.

Their talk last night had not been forgotten. He had slept on the couch in the hotel room. Neither had said a word to each other until now. Sakura did not regret the words that she said to him. Not one bit. In fact, she was grateful. It had been the final test. The proof she needed to show that she was stronger. She was not Haruno Sakura, weak little cherry blossom and president of the Uchiha Sasuke fan club. No. She was Haruno Sakura, top medical ninja and badass extraordinaire.

She strapped on her weapons and medic's belt and secured her pack over her shoulders.

Sasuke reached into his own pack and came out with a small earpiece and microphone, handing it to Sakura, who put both pieces in place.

"We will be listening to everything going on and I will be able to speak to you through the earpiece. If I hear you asking for help or trying to escape or even if I notice that you have removed the pieces, I will suffocate you. Understood?" She nodded. "Good. Now go. We will not go any farther with you in case whoever it is has a perimeter set up."

Sakura glanced behind him at his team- or in her new opinion, permanent hostages- and nodded, turning on her heel and taking off.

"Do you think she will obey your orders?" Jugo asked, glancing at his leader.

Sasuke nodded.

"She has no choice." His eyes narrowed remembering her words from the night before. "She wants to get back to her home. Betrayal against that home is her only option."

* * *

Sakura arrived outside the place she was meant to meet the contact. She stretched her mind to remember the details she had read in the decoded message from Tsunade.

She was just beyond a rocky shore, the ocean making the air smell like salt. She turned away from the ocean. There was a rocky cliffside that climbed several stories up. There was supposed to be some sort of hidden entrance that she would be able to find by some sort of sign. She approached the cliffside, scanning the jagged rock for some sort of hint of where she was supposed to go. Her hand ran along the rock as she walked. She noticed the texture of the rock had started to smooth out, and her focus sharpened.

Her fingertips glided over a cut in the rock that didn't feel natural. She paused and looked at the spot.

"Konoha," she said to herself.

The Konoha leaf symbol was carved into the rock.

Acting on instinct alone, she grabbed a kunai form her holster, and imbedded it into the rock, right in the center of the symbol.

She waited.

Soon, the rock started to shift, and a massive crack split through the rock from the point where she had embedded the blade in the stone. It opened just wide enough for her to pass through.

"I've found the meeting place," she said into the microphone. "I'm going in."

She started walking. As soon as she was inside, the wall closed behind her.

_Only one way to go now._

She walked down the dark hallway, lit only by the occasional lantern hanging from the wall. Her footsteps echoed in the stone hall. How deep into the cliff was she?

The hall started to slant upwards and made several turns until she came to a heavy wooden door. Not knowing what else to do, she knocked.

A small light underneath a speaker next to the door glowed red.

"Are you Uzumaki Naruto, student of Jiraiya with his team?" The voice that was coming through the speaker was fuzzy and distorted.

She swallowed before speaking.

"No. I am a teammate of Naruto. But I was separated from them, and I am here alone. I don't know where they are."

"How can I know you are telling the truth?"

Not knowing what else to say, she smirked.

"You don't."

Silence came from the person on the other side of the door, and then a slot opened on the door, a metal drawer sliding out.

"Deposit all your weapons and supplies into the drawer." Silently obeying, she removed all her weapons and her medic belt and dropped into the drawer, removing her pack as well and dropping it in. She pushed the drawer in, closing the slot as it went. "Enter."

She heard the door click, and she opened it.

Inside was a small chamber, a bed barely big enough for one person pushed off to the side and a small table and three chairs set in the middle. Candles were lit and a books and scrolls were stacked in various places on the floor.

She walked into the room, the door closing behind her.

Suddenly, she was very afraid to turn around.

Whoever was behind her was genius enough to get close to the Akatsuki and report information back to Jiraiya without having ever being caught or even detected. Whoever was behind her had to be a powerful shinobi. More powerful than she was or perhaps could even hope to be.

Swallowing her fear, she set her features in a determined expression, and turned around.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

It was like a whole different nightmare come to life. She was facing one of her village's most feared enemies. Quite possibly the strongest ninja alive.

He pressed a long, pale finger to his lips. His face was calm, and stoic. All she could do was stare wide-eyed. She could not breath. She could not move. She was frozen in place with shock. She could not have spoken a word if she had tried.

Red clouds filled her vision and she could not look away from the person standing in front of her.

She was locked in a room, barred from access with her chakra, and under the observation of Sasuke- who was only miles away- with the most dangerous man alive.

Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

**_A/N: _**Well, I did promise Itachi would be in this chapter... xD Dont worry he is in the next one a lot, although you could have probably figured that out by the way this chapter ended. So quick! Onto the next chapter!

-HeartOfEmerald


	8. Chapter 8

**_A/N: _**I wont waste time with author notes here. So just keep reading!

* * *

Sasuke couldn't hear a sound, but he knew she hadn't taken off the microphone. He could hear the movement of her shirt against the tiny device, and had just heard her knock on the door moments before. Perhaps the person wasn't in the room? He was suspicious, but wasn't quite ready to take action yet.

_Be careful Sakura… I don't want to hurt you._

* * *

Sakura was sure she wasn't breathing. She was lightheaded and her heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest.

Finding the will to move, she reached for her kunai holster, only to find it empty. Damn. She had given up all her weapons and couldn't use her jutsu.

She was as good as dead.

Uchiha Itachi stepped towards her, keeping his finger pressed to his lips. She was to be silent.

He stopped when he was only a foot away from her. She tried to lean backwards, but the table behind her restricted her movements. He reached a pale hand forward and took her wrist in his hand. She wanted to pull away but his grip was firm.

He held her wrist up and examined the metal chakra band, and gave her a suspicious look before dropping her wrist.

He made hand seals so quickly Sakura couldn't follow them.

Two clones appeared beside him and he went about using henges to alter their appearances. One now looked like the pink haired kunoichi, and the other a nothing special civilian looking man. He approached Sakura again and pushed her hair back, plucking the earpiece from her ear and placing it on her clone. He did the same with the small microphone pinned to the inside of her shirt.

The clones sat down across the table from each other.

"Are you a member Uzumaki Naruto's team from Konoha?" the clone of the man asked.

"Yes." Sakura's clone spoke.

"Why isn't he here?"

"We were separated and I thought he might come here. Apparently not."

Sakura watched the scene confused before Itachi placed a hand on her shoulder and directed her out of the room, through the door and into the hallway.

Once the door was closed, his eyes narrowed.

"I recognize you. Haruno Sakura. I also know enough about your relationship with the kyuubi to know that he would not let you come to so dangerous a place on your own. What happened that put you under the custody of my brother?"

Sakura gasped. How did he know?

"How-"

"Those chakra bands. They are infused with his chakra. I have not seen my brother in several years, but I will never forget his chakra." Sakura took notice of the way his sharingan was deactivated. It put her more at ease, but not by much. "I am the contact with Akatsuki that Jiraiya was communicating with before he was killed."

Sakura could not speak. What was happening? She didn't understand anything.

"We don't have much time. I will send you back to my brother in a few moments." He noticed the way she was pressed back against the wall, her eyes wide in confusion and also fear. "You do not need to be afraid of me, Haruno-san."

For some reason, she believed him.

"Just, explain what's going on here." Itachi nodded.

"I have been meeting here with Jiraiya for the past several years. I've given him information about Akatsuki's locations and plans. However, once he died I had no way of getting information to Konoha, so I sent a message to your Hokage to send his student, Naruto, and his team. Obviously things didn't work out as planned, so I will have to rely on you."

"I don't understand. Why are you slipping information to the village you betrayed?" Itachi's face did not change.

"There are many things you can not ever understand," was all he said. "You are a prisoner of my brother, and he seeks to kill me. If you want your freedom, you will help me."

For a moment she thought that helping him would be a betrayal to Sasuke. Then she realized that she didn't care about Sasuke anymore. He had betrayed her enough times, and she had no loyalty to him any longer. She was betraying no one, especially if Itachi was somehow an aid to her village.

"What do I have to do?" Itachi nodded at her acceptance.

"Right now your clone is being told that the Akatsuki have been flying under the radar, but that I have been sighted in southern Earth country. Make sure my brother gets there. What are the conditions he's given for your freedom?"

"I have to heal him after he fights you." Itachi nodded.

"I will be waiting in Earth country. After the fight, you are to heal my brother, and then immediately return to Konoha. Report to your Hokage that I am dead, and that the Akatsuki base is located in the center of Rain country. Also, summon one of Jiraiya's toads. He left one of them a scroll that has very valuable information that must be handed over to the Hokage. Understand?"

Sakura could do nothing but nod. She had so many questions, but couldn't bring herself to ask a single one.

"Good. I will give you back your belongings and replace the earpiece and microphone. Return to my brother and complete the tasks I have asked of you." Sakura nodded as Itachi went back into the room and returned with Sakura's items and the small devices, which he quickly replaced.

Sakura took one last look at the dangerous shinobi that she was not supposed to assist, and then turned to walk away.

A hand wrapped around her wrist and stopped her, turning her around. His other hand came up to cover the microphone piece.

"And one more thing, Haruno-san," he spoke quietly as he watched her expression. "When you return to Konoha, tell no one of my brother's location. Let him go."

He removed his hand, turned around, and closed the door, leaving Sakura alone in the hallway.

She released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and ran as quickly as she could away from the room and through the tunnels.

_"Sakura, what's going on?"_

Sakura emerged from the tunnels, breathing heavily. The sun had begun to set and the sky was painted in pinks and golds.

"Sakura?"

"Yeah, I'm out."

"Good. Come back immediately. We have what we need."

Sakura took one look back at the stone wall behind her, which had now reformed to a hard surface, and nodded to herself before she took off back towards Sasuke and his team.

Sasuke watched as Sakura approached them, and did not miss the stoic look on her face. Impenetrable. He ignored the voice in his head that told him he missed Sakura's open and cheerful personality.

"Did you hear the location?" she asked him.

"Southern Earth country. We'll camp here for the night and leave before sunrise."

The team nodded and settled onto the ground.

* * *

Karin watched the Uchiha carefully. She could see the way his eyes darted for moments at a time towards the pink haired captive. The medic was sitting a few feet from Karin, leaning back against a tree with her arms crossed and her head tilted back. What was his relationship with her? Her eyes were shut and a deep crease was formed between her eyebrows. She was thinking deeply about something, and clearly it was troubling her.

Sakura couldn't get the image of the missing-nin out of her mind. She was so confused. He was giving information to the village he betrayed? Why did he _want_ Sasuke to find him? Hell, he wanted to Sasuke to _kill_ him! Why? She didn't understand. He had sounded almost desperate as he asked the favors of her. She wished she had been able to ask more questions, but she knew he would not tell her.

_What are you thinking Uchiha?_

She opened her eyes and instantly locked gazes with Sasuke. He did not look away from her. His heated stare bore into her, and she looked away to show that she was not, and never again would be, affected by him.

She distracted herself with thoughts of Naruto and Sai. She missed them so much. Especially Naruto.

_It's all for you. Everything I am doing is for you both. I'll come back. I promise._

* * *

Miles away, an older Uchiha was on his way to Earth country. He had to be there before his brother and his team.

_Don't fail me little medic, _he thought. _Don't fail me._

* * *

___**A/N: **_Review! please review! i hope these didn't feel rushed! I have hardly any time to write anymore, so when I got a spare minute and pushed out these two chapters as quick as I could. let me know what you think! REVIEW!

-HeartOfEmerald

PS: Dont forget i am a BETA, so if you are in search of one or know someone in search of one, (points to self) hint hint. I'm pretty good.


	9. Chapter 9

**_A/N: _**yay chapter nine! Why is that so exciting? Because this is the fight scene of course! Now, to write this chapter I studied the actual Itachi vs Sasuke fight because I wanted the same fight in my story. I would have tried to write a whole different one, but really, that fight was just so epic it can never be replaced. So it's pretty similar except the fight will be from Sakura's point of view.  
Oh, you'll see what I'm talking about. Ready, set, go!

* * *

Sakura was having trouble sleeping. Hell, she was having trouble being awake. When she closed her eyes, all she could see was Itachi. When she opened them, all she saw was Sasuke. No matter where she directed her attention, there was an Uchiha. An Uchiha that was depending on her to follow through with their commands. Her stomach was constantly in knots.

She woke up one night after a particularly disturbing dream of the Uchiha brothers each holding one end of a thick metal chain that wrapped tightly around her. She rolled over in her sleeping bag and looked up through the trees out to the sky. Stupid stars. All they had to do was float around up there and laugh at the miseries of the people below them.

She sighed and sat up, looking around the small campsite. Karin was cuddled against Suigetsu's side in her sleep and Jugo was sprawled across the ground.

Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

Raising an eyebrow, she stood up, her joints cracking. Where had he gone?

She felt a flare of chakra come from her left. It was Sasuke. She walked through the trees in his direction. As she got closer, the chakra flares became more and more persistent.

_Sasuke?_

She heard a groan of pain and the sound of knees hitting the ground. Her inner medic kicking in, she rushed to the source.

Sasuke was on the ground, bent over. His mouth was open, releasing the groans of pain. His arm was lifted and his hand was clamped down over the cursed seal.

"Sasuke?" His head lifted at the sound of her voice. She inhaled sharply and took a step back. His eyes were blood red for a moment, and then they narrowed into snake-like slits.

What was happening to him?

"Get away!" he hissed at her, grinding his teeth together. Sakura, recovering from her fear, dropped to her knees and pulled his hand away from his shoulder. He resisted for a moment, and then relented as another wave of pain sent him doubling over again. She touched her hand tentatively to the curse seal before quickly withdrawing it. The skin was burning hot.

"Sasuke why is your mark doing that? Orochimaru is dead, the mark shouldn't affect you anymore!" Another hissed came from the Uchiha's mouth.

Sakura, for one moment, was reminded of when they were about twelve or thirteen when Sasuke's cursed mark had gotten out of control. Instead of being afraid, she had jumped forward and wrapped her arms around the boy.

Before realizing what she was doing, she dropped to her knees and grabbed Sasuke around his shoulders, pulling him close to her. His body went rigid and started shaking. Hisses were spat from his mouth and still she did not let go.

"Come back," she said, her voice soft but firm. "Come back."

Sasuke's body continued it spasms for a little while longer before the pain began to fade away to a dull throbbing. He felt his eyes revert back to their normal onyx and the energy leave his body. He released a shaky breath before collapsing, his body falling into the arms of his former teammate.

Sakura froze for a second, and held back the urge to shove the Uchiha away. She sighed and shook her head. Right now, he was not the villain that had threatened the lives of her and her friends. No, right now he was just that little boy from her memory that couldn't control the darkness in his soul.

So she held onto him until his breathing steadied out. Had he fallen asleep?

She didn't move, even though the muscles in her body were aching. She held him while he slept. She knew that when he woke up, and when she was long gone after his fight with his brother, he would remember this. He would remember the act of kindness she had shown him, and the many acts of hostility he had shown her, and that small bit of human in him would regret his treatment towards her.

* * *

Karin, in all her chakra expertise, was cloaked and hidden behind a tree, watching the two. What was the relationship between the two? She needed to know. Whoever this girl was, she was the key to Sasuke's human side. If Karin could unlock that side permanently, her life might be spared.

* * *

As the team moved closer and closer to Earth Country, the tension rose. Every cell in Sasuke's body was screaming for the moment that he would meet his brother in combat. Sakura was having her own internal combat over the fact that her fate lied in the hands of one or both of the Uchiha brothers. Karin continued to watch Sasuke and Sakura carefully, determined to discover what the extent of their relationship was. As for Jugo and Suigetsu, all they could do was stand by and watch.

They arrived in Earth country, just a day's journey away form where the battle would most certainly take place.

The team was silent. No one spoke. The air was filled with a buzzing tension that seemed to coat everything. Everyone seemed to feel the awkward stress. There were a few moments where Sasuke seemed to want to say something to Sakura, but he never did.

The younger Uchiha was struggling with what had happened this morning. He had woken up in the arms of his former teammate. She was sitting on the ground with him in her lap, her body slumped over as she slept. She looked extremely uncomfortable, but he certainly wasn't. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so deeply.

Why was she holding onto him?

Suddenly he had remembered the night before. His cursed mark had caused him pain. Worse than it had been causing him before. It was such a blinding pain that he had fallen to his knees, and she come and found and him. She had held onto him until the fit ended and even after he had fallen asleep. He was continually threatening her life, and yet she had been kind to him in his time of vulnerability when she could have just as easily killed him.

He glanced at the pink haired kunoichi, sitting against a tree with her knees pulled up to her chest and the most serious of expressions on her face.

_Sakura, _he thought to himself. _How can you be so good?_

* * *

This was it. The moment he had strived to for his whole life. The moment he would defeat his brother.

This was it.

The energy had completely shifted once they entered the immediate area of the soon-to-be battleground. Everyone was waiting for what Sasuke's words would be once they arrived on site.

They soon found out when Sasuke ordered them to halt their movements and turned towards them.

"Karin, is he here?" he asked the red head, who closed her eyes for a moment while concentrating, and then nodded. Suddenly a look of panic struck her face. "What is it?"

"There are battles around the area. Akatsuki members against…" Karin's eyes opened and flicked to Sakura with a worried expression. A knot formed in Sakura's throat and her stomach tightened.

"Against?" Sasuke persisted.

"Leaf-nin."

The silence that fell over the group was a heavy one. Sakura couldn't breathe. Naruto was surely among them, along with Sai and Kakashi. There was no doubt about that.

It took all of her will power to keep her feet planted on the ground.

Sasuke's chakra buzzed in irritation, the chakra infused on Sakura's chakra bands imitating the action, causing her to freeze in fear.

"How far away are they?"

"Far enough. It appears that the Akatsuki members have formed a perimeter around Itachi's location to keep any intruders away from the battle." Sasuke nodded, carefully keeping his eyes off the anxious look of the pinkette.

"Karin, Jugo, Suigetsu, make sure no one interferes with the battle." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And don't kill any of the Leaf-nin."

Sakura gasped and stared wide-eyed at Sasuke, shock apparent in her jade eyes.

He ignored her and grabbed her by the arm.

"You're coming with me."

And without another word, they shot off through the trees, leaving the other three behind to await the battle's outcome.

Sakura didn't dare say a word. She recognized the fact that Sasuke had entered into battle-mode. His focus was on one thing and one thing only.

His older brother.

The trees began to thin and Sasuke suddenly changed direction, heading towards a clump of exceptionally high trees. He gripped onto her arm and pulled her up towards the top of the tree.

He stopped on a branch and leaned her back against the trunk. Sakura looked out towards a mountain that resembled a six-tiered cake topped by a small cement building with a rounded roof. The building was surrounded by three rectangular cement pillars which, if she squinted, she could make out the Uchiha emblem.

Sasuke made a small sound in his throat, capturing her attention again.

"Stay here until it's finished. Once you see that it's over, get to me as fast as you can and heal me enough to run. We don't want to run the risk of other Akatsuki members getting to us. And one more thing," he stared deep into her eyes, the gleam in those onyx depths threatening. "Don't you dare run back to those Konoha ninjas. After you heal me, I'll hold to our deal, and I'll let you go. If you try and go before then, I don't care how weak I am, I will find a way to kill you."

Sakura nodded, ignoring complete fear that had settled itself into her stomach.

He nodded and took off. Sakura was left to stand there….and wait.

* * *

There he was.

The face of his nightmares.

The object of his goal.

The driving force behind all those years of training.

His older brother.

Itachi.

"Hello little brother." Itachi's deep, rich monotone seemed to echo through the cement room.

"Itachi," Sasuke's spat through his teeth. Itachi smirked and stood up from the stone throne he had been lounging in. He stepped down form the platform and held removed his Akatsuki cloak.

"Shall we begin?"

* * *

Waiting.

That was all she could do.

The waiting seemed to stretch on for an eternity. She was sure that she wasn't breathing. She was completely positive that her heart was not beating. Every fiber of her being was waiting.

Inside that cement building, the Uchiha brothers were probably beginning their battle. The final conflict of siblings.

She dug her nails into the bark of the tree, blood trickling from her fingertips. She didn't even feel it. All she could do was wait.

After what seemed like an eternity, a scream that was undeniably Sasuke's ripped through the air. Her hand tightened on the bark, shards of wood stabbing under her fingernails. Her knees shook. What was happening? Was Sasuke's losing?

Silence.

It was a loaded silence that followed Sasuke's scream. The kind of silence that takes place before an explosion.

Sure enough, a rumble came from the mountain before the roof burst open, rubble flying in every direction. Seconds passed before a figure flew from the dust, fire erupting from their lips. From this distance, she couldn't tell if it was Sasuke or Itachi that was using the katon.

The question of identity was answered when the flames cleared. She could see the massive, gray wing of Sasuke in his cursed mark form covering him from the fire that had been from the older Uchiha.

The figures leaped away from each other, both blowing fire at each other. Then, something Sakura had never seen in her life sprang into the flames. What looked like a black flame engulfed the fire, seeming to eat it away until it was extinguished. Sasuke darted around Itachi, the black flames following him as if they were alive and aware. They latched onto Sasuke's wing, and ate it away. Sasuke fell to the ground, screaming until the black flames disappeared.

More silence.

Sakura watched as Itachi approached Sasuke and knelt in front of him, reaching for the fallen body, then suddenly withdrawing.

Sasuke's body looked like it had vaporized.

Sakura knew it was not over. The strange black flames surrounded the building, thrashing about as if they had a mind of their own.

Sakura gasped as fire erupted from the roof in several places, like volcanic geysers. Itachi somehow managed to dodge them and stood on the edge of the near demolished roof.

Sakura shivered as a raindrop fell on her face and slid down her cheek. The drop was followed by more, and soon rain was falling in a heavy torrent. The sun was suddenly blotted out by storm clouds. Thunder rumbled as lighting lit up the sky. Sakura looked from the sky to the battleground.

The black flames did not die out.

Sasuke leapt out of the building and stood on top of one of the cement pillars, looking down at his brother. His hand began to spark blue, and Sakura immediately recognized the chidori.

He raised the chidori up into the air. The lightning from the clouds shot down from the sky and connected with his fist, a buzzing jumble of electricity raised above his head. Sakura was mesmerized.

What happened next sent Sakura to her knees.

A blue demon of electricity emerged from the clouds, roaring its thunderous roar as it shot down to earth towards Itachi. There was no way he could dodge it.

The ground shook the demon struck the earth, the building and pillars crumbling to the ground in a pile of rubble.

The storm disappeared and the sun returned as the dust cleared. Sakura was in shock. Had that entire storm been part of Sasuke's jutsu?

She watched as Sasuke fell to the ground.

Was it over? Should she go to him? Surely Itachi had not survived that earthshattering attack.

She was wrong.

Sasuke suddenly sat up, glaring towards his fallen brother. The same fallen brother that was no standing up. Sasuke returned to his cursed form, but Sakura wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were glued on the other Uchiha.

Itachi stood surrounded by a red cloud that moved about him like flames and what looked like a massive skeleton. The skeleton began to transform until it was the image of mighty warrior.

What was this jutsu?

Apparently it had blocked Sasuke's attack.

Another scream ripped from Sasuke's throat and Sakura was once again focused on the younger brother.

What she saw made her eyes widen.

White snakes had burst through Sasuke's skin and were thrashing about wildly. The red warrior surrounding Itachi slashed into the snakes with its sword until only one was left. The scaly white heads fell to the ground in large puddles of blood.

The remaining snake opened it's mouth, venom dripping from it's massive fangs. Sakura squinted. Something was emerging from the snake's mouth.

A head of black, long hair followed by a skinny, pale body crawled from the mouth of the snake. The figure flipped its head back.

Sakura suppressed a scream.

Orochimaru.

The red warrior roared as Orochimaru shot forward, only to be stopped by the warrior's sword. Sakura watched as the snake sannin and the white snakes were absorbed into the sword. She looked to Sasuke as the creatures were sucked out of his body. The younger Uchiha screamed the whole time.

Had he been holding something that horrific inside of him?

Sasuke stayed on the ground, breathing heavily and back in his normal form. He stumbled up to his feet. Itachi stood away form him, and Sakura saw his figure suddenly tremble and fall to his knees, hunched over. The red warrior faded back into a skeleton.

Sasuke leapt into the air, sending a cloud of kunai towards his brother. They must have had exploding tags on them, because fire engulfed Itachi soon after.

Now.

Now it had to be over. Sakura was sure.

She was wrong again.

The fire cleared and Itachi still stood, a rounded, transparent red shield in front of him. Sasuke charged the shield, sword in hand. As soon as he made contact with the shield, he was thrown back against the remnants of one of the pillars. Itachi was walking towards him.

Closer.

Closer.

Sakura waited, a part of her believing that this was Sasuke's end.

And then the shield disappeared from around the older Uchiha brother. Itachi was falling. Falling forward into the wall beside Sasuke, and sliding to the ground.

Rain began to fall again, but this time it was real.

Yes. Now it was over.

* * *

**_A/N: _**Ok, if I don't get nice long reviews for this one I'm going to be very sad! This took forever! But I love to do it for you readers ;D  
Let me know what you think! I'll have the next chapter out by this weekend hopefully.

-HeartOfEmerald


	10. Chapter 10

**_A/N: _**This chapter is more of just a link. Because the Itachi arc officially starts in the next chapter! yay! sorry it took so long to get there. I got sidetracked in a few places. Lol. But this time I promise! I can't decide if I'm completely satisfied with this chapter but I think it came out ok. Let me know what you think!

* * *

Sasuke pressed himself back against the crumbled pillar, willing his body to get as far away from his approaching brother as possible.

Itachi stumbled closer and closer, blood streaming from his eye and mouth and dripping off of his chin. Sasuke's breath was coming in heavy pants, his heartbeat sounded through his head. He was out of chakra, this had to be the end.

Itachi was right in front of him now, his hand raised as he reached for his little brother. Sasuke trembled as Itachi reached forward.

He shut his eyes in fear, waiting for the end.

A small pressure on his forehead made him open his eyes.

Itachi was… smiling. His two fingers pressed against Sasuke's forehead in an action that Sasuke remembered from childhood.

"Foolish... little brother…" And with that, Itachi fell forward, his hand dragging across his brother's face, leaving a trail of his own blood across Sasuke's cheekbone. He fell against the pillar beside Sasuke, and slid down until he lay in a crumpled heap on the ground.

Rain began to fall. It sprinkled his face and began its work on washing away the blood that painted the battlefield. Sasuke couldn't move.

He looked down onto his brother.

Itachi didn't move.

He looked up, and vaguely registered a bobbing spot of pink before the edges of his vision went black, and he fell face first into the ground.

* * *

Sakura rushed forward as fast as she could, leaping over piles of rubble and doing her best not to slip in the puddles of blood.

She ran towards Sasuke. The other Akatsuki members were probably already on their way. She didn't have to time to heal him here. She bent over and grabbed him by the arm, using her strength (which was impressive even without chakra) and managed to pull him to his feet, slinging his arm over her shoulder.

"Sak…" she heard his small mumble.

"Sasuke, come on. We have to move." She dragged him away, stumbled away from the battle ground into the surrounding forest. She pulled him as far into the forest as possible until he let out a groan and fell to his knees. She knew he could go no further.

She bent down next to him and pulled his face up to look at her.

"Sasuke, listen to me. You have to remove my chakra bands," she spoke firmly, and it appeared that Sasuke registered her command and lifted two shaky hands, forming a seal. The bands on her wrist and neck began to loosen, and as soon as they were wide enough, she removed them and dropped them to the ground.

Entering medic-mode, she quickly laid Sasuke down on his back and scanned his body for injuries. He had a shuriken imbedded deep in his right side, four broken ribs, a deep gash across his chest and cheek bone, and burns across his left shoulder. Nodding to herself, she began her work.

* * *

An anxious blonde sped towards the battlefield, Sai and Kakashi followed close behind. Before they could get too close, however, the ground in front of them rippled. They froze, waiting to see if this was sort of trap.

They stood still as what looked like a giant venus fly trap emerged from the ground, followed by a body clothed in a black cloak with those all too recognizable red clouds.

"_Where do you supposed they're going?" _came a dark, gravelly voice from the plant.

"My best guess would be the battle field. Could they be looking for their precious lost teammate?" said another, lighter voice. It occurred to Kakashi that the two voices were both coming from the plant man, whose face was half white and half black.

"We're not after Sasuke to bring him back!" Naruto shouted, frustrated that he was being kept away from his destination.

"_Ah… perhaps they are after revenge for that pretty cherry blossom."_

"Where is he?" Naruto shouted, earning two different types of chuckles from the plant.

"You won't find him. He was carried off by his ah...pet." Another laugh from the white side of the plant. "Uchiha Sasuke is the victor of this battle."

The hearts of the three men fell. Naruto lost the will to move forward. Sasuke was probably gone by now. He had managed to slip away at the last moment every time they had pursued him, and this time would surely be no different.

"Let's turn back…" Naruto said, defeated, before anger rose in his chest. "We'll find him later."

* * *

The first thing he felt was a cool, soothing sensation across his shoulder. It reminded him of when he was a little kid, and he had burned himself trying to use the katon. His mother had soothed aloe over the burned area.

"Sasuke?" There, the most beautiful voice he could have heard at the moment. He opened his eyes. The world was blurry, as if he had been sleeping for a long time. "Sasuke? Can you hear me?"

He groaned and blinked is eyes to focus.

Pink.

That was the first thing he saw. Then green.

"Sakura," he said, his voice was raspy and his throat burned.

"Sasuke, try and move your body a little. Is there any pain anywhere?" Sasuke did as he was told, slowly moving his limbs and shifting around his back. He was sore, that much was certain. But there was no pain. Just a few dull throbbing muscles here and there. He shook his head and began to sit up. "Careful," she said. "Don't sit up too fast. I didn't heal you completely, but your body will be able to do the rest on its own."

Sasuke stared with a blank look up at the medic-nin. Her face was carefully set in a hard mask.

"Sakura I-"

"How does it feel Sasuke?" Her voice was sharp and direct.

"What?"

"How does it feel?" She turned and stared right at him, her jade eyes piercing deep. "How does it feel to finally achieve your goal? The one you abandoned Naruto and I for. The one you risked your life for, over and over and over again. The one you nearly handed your body over for. How does it feel?" A type of smirk flitted across her lips. "Was it worth it?"

Sasuke couldn't think of anything to say. He tried. He rooted through every possible response, but he was still in too much shock from the battle to say anything to the fierce girl, no, woman in front of him.

She laughed without humor.

"Are you okay?" He nodded shakily. "Good." She quickly shoved all her supplies back into her bag and stood up.

Sasuke, realizing what she was doing, stood up quickly.

Pain shot through his head. He gripped his head and groaned.

"I told you not to get up idiot," she remarked, and turned to walk away. Sasuke's hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist. To be honest he had no idea what he was doing. All he knew was that she was going to leave, and he didn't want her to.

She spun around.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't go. Not yet." She jerked her hand free.

"Naruto was in this area, I have to find him before he leaves!" Sasuke stared at her, breathing heavily from the extra effort put forth to get him off the ground.

He couldn't stop her. He knew he couldn't. He had promised her, and he couldn't seem to bring himself to break the promise.

She stared at him for one more immeasurable moment, and then nodded to herself, taking off back in the direction she had come.

Sasuke stayed rooted to the spot before he felt a flare of chakra, Suigetsu's, from behind him. He tore his eyes away from where she had disappeared, and left in the opposite direction.

* * *

Sakura propelled herself through the forest, determined to make it out of the forest. To get to where she suspected her teammates must be, she had to cross the battlefield. She didn't want to see all that blood, or even Itachi's body.

She suddenly remembered the demands given to her by the fallen Uchiha. She had to get back to Konoha and report to the Hokage about Itachi's partnership with Jiraiya and the location of the Akatsuki base. She nodded to herself and kept running.

The battlefield came into view.

Sakura couldn't help but slow as she crossed over the now treacherous ground. She was carefully avoiding a severed snake's head when she felt it.

She had felt this particular sensation many times before in her past shifts at the hospital. It felt like a slight pulsating feeling, like when you prick you finger and can feel your heartbeat in the tip. It was the last, tiny bits of chakra leaving a body that was as good as dead, but not quite. Normally, no one would be able to feel that particular sensation, even a highly trained shinobi. But she was more than that. She was a highly trained _medical_ shinobi. She could detect the slightest changes in chakra. And that feeling, displaying the last few moments of life, is exactly what she felt coming from the broken body crumpled on the ground.

Haruno Sakura stood in the center of the bloody battlefield, and found herself face with a choice.

There was so much about the older Uchiha and the motivations behind his actions that posed a severe mystery to her. A mystery she felt had everything to do with her life as well as those around her. Especially her stoic former teammate she had just left behind.

Naruto, Sai, and Kakashi were all racing back towards Konoha ahead of her, and Itachi's life, as well as many valuable answers, was racing away from him behind her.

Without fully understanding _why _she made the choice she made, she turned around, and sped over to the body.

She pressed her fingers to his bloodied neck, searching for any type of pulse. His skin was cold, but she did find a faint flutter. It was barely there, almost gone, but it was enough.

She knew she had barely any chakra left, and that this would probably exhaust her, but she summoned the glowing green energy to her hands, and followed through with her choice.

* * *

**_A/N: _**Kinda blah, I know. But next chapter will be better . Again this one was just like, a linking chapter. Until next time!

-HeartOfEmerald


	11. Chapter 11

**_A/N: _**I... am... so... sorry. I have been gone for months! since i have been gone so long I ask you to do this. VERY IMPORTANT! please read the last two or three chapters just to be reminded. I went back and fixed some of my mistakes. PLEASE DO THIS!  
Now on with chapter 11 and remember to review at the end!

* * *

Was this the afterlife? If so, it was a lot more peaceful than he expected. After all the sins he had committed in his life, he was sure that he would face something terrifying. And yet, although he had died, he still felt like he was in his body. He could still feel the cold, wet ground beneath him. He could still feel the rain falling in little pitter-patters on his back. Yet he couldn't move. He felt something else though.

Chakra.

It was seeping into his body, and yet it was not his own. His body wanted to jerk, and attack the intruder, but his mind told him that he had nothing to fear. It didn't matter though. He couldn't move even if he wanted to.

So Itachi just waited. Waited for whatever the afterlife had in store for him.

* * *

Sweat dripped from her brow and her muscles shook. But she did not stop. She poured every last ounce of chakra into her hands as she healed the body.

She had been amazed at the damage done. A deep, gaping wound in his leg, several stomach wounds, and an arm covered in severe burns. What was really proving difficult was his eyes. She would have to finish healing those some other time. (That is if he didn't kill her when he woke up.) It seemed as though his eyes, which already showed signs of previous deterioration, had ruptured several blood vessels and bled out of his eye sockets. But what astonished her most was what she found in his chest.

It appeared to Sakura that Itachi had an existing medical condition, even before he had gone in to battle his brother. And by the looks of the damage, he'd had the condition for many years. It seemed as though every major organ was collapsing. His lungs had filled up with blood and other fluids. A large, threatening ulcer affected his stomach, and his heart- once she got it beating at a better pace- seemed to be only half working. The more she looked, the more she wondered how he had been able to survive at all.

She wanted to focus on the most life-threatening injuries with what little chakra she had left, but it all seemed life threatening! A look of determination falling over her features, she squared her shoulders and hovered her hands over his chest, getting to work on getting his heart back to a relatively normal condition. She moved on to getting the fluid out of his lungs and repairing some of the tissue is his stomach. Then she quickly cleaned his leg wound and closed it up as best as she could before her chakra failed her and she swayed dangerously, catching herself by digging her hands into the mud.

Sakura shut her eyes for a moment as she took deep breaths and regained her balance.

She stood up, her knees trembling. She stumbled at first, and had to take deep breaths. The chakra loss was really getting to her. Ignoring it, she bent over and gripped onto Itachi's arm, pulling him upright. Jesus, he was heavy. But she had made her choice, and she could not leave him there.

With slow, painful steps, she started walking.

* * *

When she woke up, Sakura was lying face down in the grass. Her cheek pressed against the dirt. She had managed to get Itachi far from the former battleground, but now she had no idea where she was. She had exhausted herself. When she got as far as she could manage, she went through her bag to see what had become of her belongings. Everything was there. Including some extras. She found a clean white shirt, black shorts, and undergarments folded at the bottom of the bag.

If she ever saw Karin again, she would have to thank her.

She had taken two sleeping mats from the summoning scroll she had and laid them out on the ground, moving Itachi's limp body onto one of them. She had been trying to start a fire when she passed out, unable to keep her body moving.

Feeling only slightly better after being unconscious for a few hours, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked around. Itachi's body hadn't moved.

She stared at him for a while, unsure what to make of him. Before now, every time she had ever laid eyes on him, she had been terrified of him. Even with him unconscious she felt she should at least be a little nervous. But she wasn't. She was no more afraid of this man that she would be of an injured dog. It was probably very stupid of her, but she couldn't help it.

Still, not completely oblivious, she knew if he should wake up he could easily kill her, even if he was supposedly an aid to her village. She approached him, slowly due to the ache in her body, and made quick work of binding his hands and feet. She wanted to continue healing him, but she knew she hadn't replenished her chakra enough yet, so she would have to wait.

Although she knew he was blind, she was still terrified of the danger his eyes posed. She dug around inside her bag until she came upon some bandages from her medic-kit. She tied the bandages around his head, covering his eyes.

* * *

Dark. That's all he saw. Darkness. Not the same blurry, shadowy darkness he had become accustomed to due to his impending blindness, but the kind of darkness one sees when all the lights suddenly disappear from a bright room. Disorienting.

He realized with a sudden panic that he was not dead, as he should have been. He was alive. It was impossible and it was against his plan but yet, here he was. He was breathing, his heart was beating. He was alive.

He was suddenly furious. Why was he alive! How? He tried to move his hands, but found they were bound together.

He mentally cursed. Not only was he alive and in a severely weakened state, but he was captured.

His head and his muscles throbbed in pain, and he didn't want to move at all, but he knew he had to. He had to figure out what had happened. If he survived, did that mean his brother had died? That wasn't his plan. Perhaps he had overestimated his foolish brother's abilities, and had killed him by accident.

But that wasn't possible. Itachi never over or underestimated anything. He planned everything out, from beginning to end and beyond.

However he surely hadn't planned this.

Sakura was dozing against a tree, regaining more of her strength after another healing session. She had managed to heal up his stomach and finish up the leg wound, but that was it. She hadn't been able to push herself to do anything else.

She heard a grunt and the sound of a body shifting. Her eyes snapped open and she was suddenly perfectly alert.

The sun was setting, and the orange light that shone through the thick canopy of trees was enough for her to see the Uchiha moving. He was lying on his back, his hands tied underneath him, and he seemed to be trying to sit up. Sakura held a kunai in her hand as she stood up, ignoring her body's protest. She kept a safe distance away from Itachi as he continued to move.

"You shouldn't move so much," she said, keeping her voice level. Itachi suddenly stopped moving, then turned his head in the direction of her voice.

"I know that voice…" he said, remembering the familiarity of the sound.

"It's me, Haruno Sakura."

Ah, now he remembered. She was supposed to heal his brother after the battle, but did she heal him as well? That was not what they had agreed to. He wanted to lose his temper, to try and break from the bonds she had placed on him, but he knew better than to act rashly, and remained calm. He had to find out what had become of him before he could put any plans in action.

"You did not follow our agreement, Haruno," he said, allowing a slight threat to drip into his tone.

Sakura swallowed.

"Yes I did. I healed Sasuke, and he escaped."

"You were supposed to return to Konoha. Why are you here? And why am I here?"

Sakura took a breath.

"I was going to return to my teammates. But I sensed that you were still barely alive, so I chose to heal you."

"Why?"

"I want you to answer some questions?"

So that's what it was then. Itachi sighed. She wanted to know why he was feeding information to Konoha. She wanted to know why he didn't kill her. She wanted to know why he wanted his brother alive.

She wanted to know all the secrets that he had planned to die with.

"I can't answer your questions," he told her, and listened as she sighed. Not in impatience, but in exhaustion. Now that he was more alert, he sensed that her chakra was severely depleted. Actually, now that he was more alert, he realized several things about himself. He was breathing easier. The pain in his stomach was gone. He felt... healthy. "How could you have healed me?" He honestly didn't know. His condition was one so severe; no medic could find anything more than a temporary solution to slow the deterioration of his body. Had she been able to not only stop it, but also reverse it?

"I'm a top trained medic-nin in Konoha, as you already knew. My mentor is Tsunade. I can heal any condition. Except death." Her voice was not cocky, or proud. It was a fact. He knew this, and yet he didn't think she of all people could really heal him.

It was silent for a few more tension filled moments. Sakura could see the creases in Itachi's forehead as he contemplated his new position. She could almost see the chess pieces moving and rearranging in his mind. She was sure he normally wouldn't show so much, but given that he had no preparation for this, he couldn't help it.

"I can not tell you what you want to know," he said to her, as the final pieces of his new plan formed in his mind.

"Why not?"

"Because you are not prepared for the answers."

Sakura had no idea what he meant by that, and sighed; too exhausted to participate in an argument she knew she would lose.

"But," he began. "Because of your failure to follow my instruction, there are certain events that if not prevented will cause harm to everyone associated with the ninja world."

More silence…

"Let me guess, you can't tell me anything about these 'certain events.'" Sakura spoke. Had she not been staring, she would have missed the slight twitch of his mouth.

"You learn quickly."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"It's what _we_ are going to do, Haruno-san."

"We?"

"You're involved now."

"All I want is to return to my village."

"If that is what you want, then so be it. You can return to your village and announce that you are not dead, and live happily for a while before your life and everyone else's life falls apart around them. With your knowledge of my brother and his team as well as of your own village and not to mention your medical skill, we can prevent far more damage than I would have been able to prevent on my own. The choice is yours."

Sakura dropped her gaze to the ground. She was supposed to trust this man? Sure, he was apparently helping her village, but still… no one else knew that except Jiraiya and he was dead. To everyone else, he was still a traitor. And why was he helping her village in the first place after all the evil he had done.

There it was. The exact question that had prompted her to heal this man in hopes for the answer. The potential importance of this information pulled at her thoughts, and she made her decision.

"I'll help you," she said, earning a nod of approval. "On one condition." Itachi stilled.

"And what is that Haruno-san?"

"I'll help you, but eventually I want to know the information you're hiding. You don't have to tell me now, or even soon. But I want to know."

Itachi thought long and hard, grateful that his eyes were covered so she would not see his annoyance.

"You have a deal."

* * *

_**A/N: **_let me know what you think! i'm so sorry i've been gone so long! ill try and update more often!


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